Epistemology justifies metaphysical knowledge by explaining how concepts relate to reality. Metaphysics studies non-physical things and investigates why they exist. Epistemology focuses on knowledge and its sources, limitations, and characteristics. Metaphysical beliefs cannot rely on traditional scientific methods, so epistemology is crucial to their acceptance. When properly linked, epistemology and metaphysics explain nonscientific truths and allow individuals to trust in things beyond science.
The connection between epistemology and metaphysics is that epistemology justifies what would otherwise be “improvable” knowledge by displacing concepts into reality. Without epistemology, nothing in metaphysical study would have any kind of authority or weight. This is crucial because metaphysical beliefs or concepts cannot depend on traditional scientific methods to be proven true.
To understand the connection between epistemology and metaphysics, an individual must understand what each subject is. Metaphysics is the study of all things not in the physical realm: physical studies are handled through the real sciences. It is a philosophy that investigates why things exist. Use concepts to explain the realities people experience.
Epistemology and metaphysics are similar in that both are branches of philosophy, but as a field, epistemology focuses on knowledge, looking at what makes knowledge true or justified. In other words, epistemology seeks to answer how a person can prove what he believes, by identifying the elements that make the information part of a set of realities. It also focuses on the characteristics, sources and limitations of knowledge that people have.
A person cannot use traditional scientific methods to prove metaphysical beliefs. Indeed, metaphysical concepts sometimes directly conflict with science. For example, an individual cannot conduct a test to see if there is a god or if the creative process is taking place. Therefore, metaphysicians must provide other evidence that what they experience is reality. They must use epistemology to explain why their concepts can be seen as absolutes, yielding rationalizations for every metaphysical belief.
Understanding that metaphysicians cannot rely entirely on science, if at all, epistemology is central to the acceptance of metaphysics. In the scientific community, the more evidence – i.e. data – a person has to support a hypothesis or idea, the more people see the idea or hypothesis as justified. Similarly, when a metaphysician produces a great deal of evidence in favor of her concept, the more weight the concept gains, the more significant it becomes. People come to see the metaphysical idea as very likely to be true or as a reality and do not dismiss it easily.
When properly linked, epistemology and metaphysics explain not only the nonscientific truths that people hold, but also how these truths came to be and how they shaped reality. They also allow individuals to place their trust in things that the scientific community cannot necessarily explain. This gives an individual a larger sense of the world, how things work, and what might be possible.
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