Epistemology is the study of knowledge and belief, a branch of philosophy that asks, “what is truth, how do we know, and how can we prove it”.
This includes examining what we know, what we can know, how we can know it, how we can prove we know it, what we can’t know, how we can prove we don’t know, what the difference between opinion and fact are, what the difference between empirical and reasoned evidence is, what the difference between truth and belief is, and more.
Some of the most important philosophical works are epistemological, as a theory holds a lot more weight when you can actually prove it by accepted measures. See our page on Hume’s fork and Kant’s a Critique of Pure Reason for a starter kit, or see Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy’s page on Epistemology for the AP version, or see this article on knowledge, opinion, and fact.
Whatever is the case, is the case. That is to say, whatever is true is true within a system, is true within that system (for example, whatever is the case, in reality, is the case in reality; or, whatever is true in mathematics, is true in mathematics).
The saying “you can’t prove a negative” isn’t accurate. Proving negatives is a foundational aspect of logic (ex. the law of contradiction).
The idea that all truth is subjective, that there is no objective truth, is a myth. Everything either has an absolute truth value (even if we can’t know it) or is an opinion or belief.
Trump may have had the largest inaugural crowd in 2017 if you count all sources online, on TV, and in-person, but his in-person turnout was provably smaller than Obama’s.
Politics can be treated as a science (political science), but it must always seek data that can be confirmed by our senses (empirical evidence).
We present an essay on the purpose of the laws and government to better understand how liberty, rights, equality, and justice are inseparable in nature and in civil society.
Whether or not machines can think, depends on our definition of “think.” Generally we can say, machines can think, but they think differently than humans.
After reading David Hume, Immanuel Kant avoided social engagements for decade while fusing Hume’s ideas with his own, the result was Kant’s, a Critique of Pure Reason.
It is a myth that your vote doesn’t count. Despite the electoral college electing the President directly, every vote counts. It just counts in complex ways that differ by election, state, and region.
The simulation argument can be summarized as the idea that reality might be a virtual simulation (we might be “in the Matrix” / “in a video game”).
Human behavior can be random to some extent, but most behavior is based on prior input, and thus is “deterministic” (meaning not totally random).
Identifying a problem is often harder than solving it. Solving a problem requires a proper diagnosis, and that requires asking the right questions.
Everything is either true or not true, but not everything that is true can be proven true, and not everything false can be proven false.
There are different types of bullshit (BS). BS can be a lie, a half-truth, or truth. The goal of BS is influence, truth and lies are simply the tools of the bulls**tter.
There are different types of good and evil. The way to understand the types of good and evil differs by culture and text, but we can find general similarities by looking at major works and belief systems.
Alan Turing can be considered “the father of computer science and AI.” Turing made major contributions to computing, codebreaking, and even helped the Allies win WWII.
A person can be a “lone genius”, but as an essay called “Deconstructing the Lone Genius Myth” points out, genius is in many ways a collective process.
We can apply the concepts of theory, experimentation, and application to all the arts and sciences. For instance we have theoretical physics, experimental physics, and applied physics.
Everything we perceive depends on our frame of reference. What we observe is relative to our point of view. In other words, “it is all a matter of perspective”.
Cognitive Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a computer program that can think, learn, and generally mimic human cognition.
The term ‘equal’ can mean ‘identical’, but more-so it describes “equivalence.” For example, social equality describes equity, not “exact the sameness.”
People can’t be truly unbiased; we are hardwired with bias and create bias constantly as part of the natural neurological process of learning.
Bayes’ theorem is a probability theory used to calculate the likelihood of an event being true or not true based on conditions related to the event. (i.e. an equation used for calculating conditional probabilities).
Humans can’t have new ideas without prior sensory input. We copy, transform, and combine old ideas to create new ones.
Language can be thought of as a system of communication that uses symbols to convey deep meaning. Symbols can be words, images, body language, sounds, etc.
A theory can be true or not true, all we know about a scientific theory is that it has predictive power and hasn’t been proven wrong by experiment yet.
A Factoid is a brief piece of information that appears to be true, but isn’t necessarily factual or verified, yet is repeated as fact anyway.
René Descartes didn’t sleep in an oven, but he did invent analytical geometry while sleeping in a room with an oven (likely a masonry heater).
Truth and facts have a lot in common, but they are not exactly the same. Truth is something that is the case. Facts are true statements. Truth is best described using facts and logical reasoning.
Deductive, inductive, and abductive reasoning are three basic reasoning types. In simple terms, deductive reasoning deals with certainty, inductive reasoning with probability, and abductive reasoning with guesswork.
I would argue that most sources of information and any information they contain should not be dismissed due our thoughts on them in general or a portion of their content. Instead, I would argue that any source is capable of presenting good and useful information, even if they typically don’t.
Facts are things that are the case for sure, they are stated plainly and without bias. Opinions meanwhile inject subjectivity and bias. Since most content in any form contains at least some subjectivity and bias, it is rare to find pure facts and common to find opinion.
We explain inductive reasoning, a bottom-up reasoning method that reasons by consistency, comparing particulars and probabilities to find likely truths.
A truth-value is a label that is given to a statement (a proposition) that denotes the relation of the statement to truth.
We present a system of “logical, epistemological, and ontological categories of being and knowledge” (categories to place all empirical and rational concepts into).
We explain the a priori-a posteriori distinction, analytic-synthetic distinction, necessary-contingent distinction and other logic-based terms.
We present a list of types of propaganda, propaganda techniques, and propaganda strategies used to manipulate public opinion in the modern day.
We explain and compare the different types of reasoning methods including deductive, inductive, abductive, analogical, and fallacious reasoning.
We present a basic theory of human knowledge to help illustrate some essentials of “what we can know” and “how we can know it.”
To avoid confusion and clarify semantics, one should speak “in terms of” a subject and “in relation to” another subject, and then explain their position from there.
We explain Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and Plato’s Theory of the Forms to help readers understand the essence of Plato’s overarching theory.
We discuss theories that deal with the nature of abstractions and contradictions including, Dialectics and the Golden Mean theory, and offer a “synthesis” of these theories.
All knowledge, all human understanding, can be said to be of four types: physical (empirical), logical (reason), ethical (philosophy in-action), and metaphysical (pure philosophy).
We discuss “giving names to concepts” (defining terms), identifying with terms, be identified by terms, and the implications of this.
Alternative facts describe inconsistent sets of information submitted as plausible evidence for competing sides of a case/debate/argument.
Reason is the application of “pure logic”, empirical evidence, experiment, and skepticism to find truths, facts, and theories (AKA “critical thinking”).
“Hume’s fork” describes how we refer to Kant’s critique of Hume, who separated knowledge into two types: facts based on ideas and facts based on experience.
We explore the nature of truth, the different types of truth, and the different types of entities who report truth to better understand the nature of information.
Collectivism describes ideology (political or otherwise) that favors the collective, like-wise Individualism describes ideology that favors the individual.
Here is a list of the fundamental dualities relating to human nature and the physical and conceptual universe.
The major branches of philosophy can be denoted as: metaphysics (what is), epistemology (what we can know), logic and reason, ethics and morality, and aesthetics (beauty and art).
We explain Deductive Logic by St. George William Joseph Stock, a book that explains how to use deductive logic and reason in simple terms.
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