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Epistemology is the study of human knowledge and its limits. Philosophers have debated whether knowledge is possible, with some like Plato and Aristotle arguing that it is achievable through reason and logic, while others like the skeptics claiming that knowledge is impossible. Renée Descartes developed a method to prove the possibility of true knowledge by doubting everything until he arrived at the basic truth that he existed because he could think.
Epistemology is a branch of philosophy concerned with the possibility and extent of human knowledge. From the Greek episteme, meaning ‘knowledge’, epistemology pertains to any scientific discipline that contributes to the collective efforts of human beings. Epistemological theories seek to discover the nature, origins and limits of human knowledge.
It is safe to say that every philosopher since the beginning of civilization has been interested in epistemology to some degree. Philosophy is by definition the love of wisdom or the pursuit of true knowledge. With close scrutiny, philosophers attempt to differentiate truth from belief and appearances. Epistemology aims to provide a basis for what we consider to be true knowledge.
Many of the leading philosophers, such as Plato and Aristotle, argued that knowledge is possible. Their epistemology was based on the ability to clearly distinguish between appearance and reality. For Plato, this epistemology was famously illustrated through his theory of forms. Aristotle’s epistemology stated that true knowledge could be achieved through the examination of cause and effect, combined with the application of reason and logic.
Other ancient philosophical schools, especially the skeptics, declared that any knowledge is impossible. For them, what we call knowledge is considered only belief at best. In other words, we can never be certain that something is as it appears. The skeptics’ epistemology has elicited an important response from other schools of philosophy, such as the Stoics, which were committed to the idea that knowledge is in fact possible.
While skepticism was a product of ancient Greece, it experienced a resurgence in 16th-century Europe at the onset of the Enlightenment. The famous philosopher Renée Descartes, frustrated with the general ignorance of the Middle Ages, worked to form an epistemology that would provide proof of the possibility of true knowledge. Descartes began by adopting the skeptic’s position that we know nothing. Considering all his previous knowledge as just belief, his mind was then free to discover the simplest, most basic, or necessary truth that could not be logically disproved. He called this the “doubt method.”
Descartes became discouraged after discovering that he could doubt everything due to the possibility that all of his experience could be distorted by his perceptions. Any sensation derived from his physical senses could very well deceive him. Eventually, he discovered that to be deceived, he had to have a mind and be a thinking being, or as he famously put it: Cogito Ergo Sum, or I think, therefore I am. He deduced that because he could think, he could know for sure that he existed. For Descartes, this truth was the beginning of an epistemology which established the possibility of knowledge.
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