What is Epistemology and what is it for?

This branch of philosophy is in charge of analyzing the validity of the process of knowledge creation.

Psychology is a science, specifically the science of behavior and mental processes. However, no science generates knowledge by itself if it is separated from philosophy, a discipline related to reflection and the exploration of new ways of perceiving and interpreting things.

Epistemology, in particular, is one of the most scientifically relevant branches of philosophy. from the scientific point of view. Here we will see what exactly it consists of and what its function is.

What is epistemology?

Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that examines the foundations on which the creation of knowledge is based. Etymologically, this term comes from the union of the words "episteme" (knowledge) and "logos" (study).

Thus, epistemology is a division of philosophy that explores the internal coherence of the reasoning that leads to the creation of knowledge. the reasoning that leads to the creation of knowledgeThe usefulness of their methodologies, taking into account their objectives, the historical contexts in which these pieces of knowledge appeared and the way in which they influenced their elaboration, and the limitations and usefulness of certain forms of research and of certain concepts, among other things.

If we had to reduce the meaning of epistemology to one question, it would be: what can we come to know, and by what means? Thus, this branch of philosophy is in charge both of searching for valid statements about those contents that we can know, and also about the procedures and methods that we should use to reach that goal.

Relationship with gnoseology and philosophy of science

It should be clarified that epistemology is concerned with analyzing the attainment of all kinds of knowledge, not only scientific knowledge, at least if we equate it with the concept of gnoseology. if we equate it to the concept of gnoseology, which is concerned with examining the scope of knowledge.which is in charge of examining the scope of all kinds of knowledge in general. It should be noted, however, that the relationship between gnoseology and epistemology is still under debate today.

The philosophy of scienceunlike epistemology, is relatively recent, appearing in the twentieth century, while the latter already appears in the philosophers of ancient Greece. This means that the philosophy of science seeks a more concrete and defined mode of knowledge production, referring to the way in which science (understood as a guaranteeing system of knowledge generation) should be used both in the most concrete practices (for example, a specific experiment) and in broad fields of science (for example, the study of behavioral patterns in human beings).

The functions of epistemology

We have seen in broad outline what the goals of epistemology are, but there are certain details that are worth elaborating on further. Epistemology is responsible, among other things, for the following functions..

1. Examining the limits of knowledge

There are all kinds of philosophical currents that tell us about our ability to generate universally valid knowledge. our capacity to generate universally valid and solid knowledge.. It ranges from naive realism, according to which it is in our power to know reality faithfully and in detail as it is, to the most extreme postmodern and constructionist tendencies, according to which it is not possible to create a definitive or universal knowledge of anything, and all we can do is to create totally opinionated explanations of what we experience.

Epistemology, in this sense, has the function of seeing in what way the methods used to investigate allow us to satisfactorily answer the questions from which we start.

2. Evaluating methodologies

Epistemologists are also responsible for evaluate, positively or negatively, the use of certain research methodologies, whether they are tools of analysis whether they are tools of analysis or methods of information gathering, taking into account the need to which they are supposed to respond. However, it is necessary to keep in mind that methodology and epistemology are not the same; the latter takes very few things for granted and questioning philosophical premises is among its functions, whereas the former focuses on the technical aspects of research and relies on a much larger number of assumptions.

For example, an epistemologist may ask questions about the actual usefulness of performing animal experiments to extract knowledge about human behavior, whereas a methodologist will rather focus on making sure that the laboratory conditions and the chosen animal species are correct.

3. Reflecting on epistemic currents

Another major function of epistemology is to create a debate between schools of thought. a debate between schools of thought that subscribe to different ways of conceiving the creation of knowledge.

For example, when Karl Popper criticized the mode of research of Sigmund Freud and his followers, he was doing philosophy of science, but also epistemology, because he was questioning the ability of psychoanalysis to reach meaningful conclusions about how the human mind works. In short, he was criticizing not only the contents of one of the main psychological currents in history, but its way of conceiving research.

4. Reflection on metaphysics

Epistemology is also in charge of deciding what metaphysics is and in what sense it is necessary or not or indispensable or not.

Throughout history, many philosophers have tried to define that which is beyond the material and physical and what are mere constructs generated by the mind to explain the reality around us, and this remains a hotly debated topic.

Bibliographical references:

• Barnes, Kuhn, Merton: Studies on the Sociology of Science, Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1980.
• Black, M.: Inducción y probabilidad, Madrid: Cátedra, 1979.
• Hempel, C. G.: La explicación científica, Buenos Aires: Paidos, 1979.
• Quintanilla, M. A.: Ideología y ciencia, Valencia, 1976.