Applied Knowledge & Innovation
Museum : Epistemology
epistemology [epist?mol'?ji],
noun: the theory of knowledge.
The theory of
knowledge is very tightly tied up with
the
history of its evolution. New ideas are developed
on top of the foundations created by earlier philosophers. Socrates and Plato
were amongst the first group of
philosophers to study
knowledge and their influence is still important. Epistemology tackles the deeper
philosophical issues surrounding knowledge such as "What it is possible
to know?".
- Sources
- Sources of Knowledge can be either perception or reason
- Reason
- Some believe reason or abstract knowledge is superior to sensory perception.
- Basic Beliefs
- In order to provide a basis for reason, it is argued that there are some
beliefs that can be taken as true and certain.
- Perception
- Some believe that perception is not a valid source but others argue that
without perception there is nothing to reason about.
- Representation
- The holder of the knowledge must represent knowledge formed from perception
or reason. This representation is about the thing that is knowledge but
is used by the holder of the knowledge.
- Knowledge
- For something to be classed as knowledge it must be traceable to true
and justified beliefs based on basic beliefs and/or valid perceptions.
- Not Knowledge
- Evaluation may result in the rejection of a belief.
- Justification
- If beliefs can be justified and held as true then
they can be classed as knowledge.
- Justified True Belief
- Knowledge is Justified True Belief
Certainty
One of the philosophical issues that is central to epistemology is that
concerning what can be known with certainty. This can lead to well known statements
such as, "if nobody witnesses the tree falling in a forest, did it really
fall?" Although these questions are important for philosophical debate,
they are of little practical use. If we take from such questions, that fact
that what we know comes from our senses and our memories of our past sensing,
then we may start to challenge our own knowledge. The question to ask in the
context of business and human resource management is
whether there is any value in managers considering questions of knowledge,
truth and certainty. Is the whole thing at best a distraction and at worst
a complete waste of time or do senior managers need to have a broader understanding
of human issues. Is philosophy useful
or just the toy of academics?
For more insight into human thought explore the Cognition
section of the main site.
John Gordon August 2001
