Epistemology

What is epistemology, and why is important to education? According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP), it is the study of knowledge.

"As the study of knowledge, epistemology is concerned with the following questions: What are the necessary and sufficient conditions of knowledge? What are its sources? What is its structure, and what are its limits? As the study of justified belief, epistemology aims to answer questions such as: How we are to understand the concept of justification? What makes justified beliefs justified? Is justification internal or external to one's own mind? Understood more broadly, epistemology is about issues having to do with the creation and dissemination of knowledge in particular areas of inquiry."

Knowledge, the term, is not as concrete as one might think. Many of us spend very little time contemplating what knowledge is. There are various kinds of knowledge: knowing how to do something, knowing someone, knowing a skill set and the list goes on. The foundation of the question begins with the proposition.

Knowledge of propositions refers to the knowledge that the schema: the subject 'S' knows proposition 'p' where 'S' has knowledge for 'p' that is known. Where education comes into play is in this question: what conditions are necessary for 'S' to know 'p' well? Is that not education?

There are traditional and non-traditional approaches to answer this question. For today we will stick with a strictly traditional approach. According to the SEP, "knowledge that p is, at least approximately, justified true belief (JTB). False propositions cannot be known. Therefore, knowledge requires truth." The quotes goes on to state,

"Finally, S's being correct in believing that p might merely be a matter of luck.^[2] Therefore, knowledge requires a third element, traditionally identified as justification. Thus we arrive at a tripartite analysis of knowledge as JTB: S knows that p if and only if p is true and S is justified in believing that p. According to this analysis, the three conditions — truth, belief, and justification — are individually necessary and jointly sufficient for knowledge."

Truth, belief and justification are necessary to understand that which is known or knowledge. What does this say to those of us in education? How can one teach within a system that promotes a knowledge whose truth, belief and justification are different than those found in your own belief system? How can education be standardized when the three elements vary according to location and demographics? Hard questions that must be considered as we consider the educational choices for our children, and questions I will take up in future posts. Blessings!