Plain language, shorter sentences, no jargon.
How Do We Know What We Know?
Epistemology: the branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and limits of knowledge
You believe the sun will rise tomorrow. You believe you are not a brain in a vat. You believe other minds exist. But can you really know any of these things?
Start here: make a prediction before reading
Epistemology asks: what is knowledge, how do we acquire it, and what are its limits? Plato defined knowledge as 'justified true belief' — a belief counts as knowledge if it is true, you believe it, and you have good reasons for believing it. This definition held for millennia until Edmund Gettier demolished it with a two-page paper in 1963.
Quick Check
Which of these best captures what you just read?
It's okay to be wrong. The thinking process is what matters.
Quick Check
Question 1 of 1What was Plato's classic definition of knowledge?