Epistemology is the branch of philosophy inquiring into the nature and conditions of knowledge and truth. Epistemologists ask such questions as: How should we define knowledge? Is knowledge generated by reason or experience? How has knowledge of nature been represented in Western philosophy and science? Is knowledge objective? What constitutes adequate justification for holding a belief? Do attributions of epistemic credibility vary among knowers from different social, cultural, and economic locations? How do power and ideology shape our experiences of the world? Students explore questions such as these and others as they submit their own beliefs about the nature of knowledge to philosophical examination. The course readings and situating context for inquiry will vary each time the course is taught, with each iteration focusing on a particular period or school of philosophical thought. Possible contexts include seventeenth century philosophy or other periods in the history of philosophy, critical theory, pragmatism, analytic philosophy, phenomenology, and feminist philosophy. This course will be offered in 2022-23, and in alternating years thereafter.
none