Epistemology

Teacher(s)

Guay Alexandre; Petteni Oriane;

Language

French

Prerequisites

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Main themes

This course does not deal with special epistemology, which concerns the fundamentals of a specific type of knowledge (human or natural sciences), but with general epistemology, also known as the theory of knowledge. It will cover the heavily gnoseological thought processes (reasoning, judging, believing, etc.). We will highlight the obstacles to knowledge (doubt, error, sensorial or cognitive illusions, cognitive bias, theoretical load, etc.), as well as some of the means that are supposed to help overcome them. We will present and discuss the main historical epistemological movements (empiricism and rationalism, idealism and realism, the nature of truth, etc.), but also the more contemporary, and in some cases the more recent, positions (internalism and externalism, foundationalism and coherentism, evidence-based knowledge, social constructivism, etc.).

Learning outcomes

At the end of this learning unit, the student is able to :
1	By the end of this course, students will have learned the basic concepts of philosophy's great theories of knowledge. They will understand how a debate can, reasonably and critically, claim to be valid. They will realise that there are many answers to the question 'what can I know?' In other words, what are the nature, methods and limits of knowledge?

Bibliography

Les différentes ressources bibliographiques seront postées en accès restreint sur la page Moodle du cours.

Teaching materials

• Diaporamas postés sur le site Moodle

Faculty or entity

EFIL