Knowledge
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Knowledge | |
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| Type | Epistemic concept |
| Field | Epistemology |
| Core idea | State of having beliefs that are appropriately connected to how things are |
| Assumptions | Truth can be distinguished from error; beliefs can be evaluated for epistemic adequacy |
| Status | Contested |
| Related | Epistemology; Belief; Justification; Understanding |
Knowledge is an epistemic concept concerned with what it means to know something, as opposed to merely believing it or asserting it. In philosophy, knowledge is analyzed in terms of how beliefs relate to truth, evidence, and justification, though no single analysis is universally accepted.
The study of knowledge lies at the core of epistemology and informs debates about evidence, certainty, and the limits of inquiry.
Core idea
At its most basic level, knowledge involves a successful cognitive relation to the world. To know a proposition is to stand in a relation to it that excludes error under appropriate conditions.
Knowledge is commonly contrasted with belief, which may be true or false, and with opinion, which lacks sufficient epistemic support.
Traditional analyses
A historically influential approach analyzes knowledge as a combination of belief, truth, and justification. On this view, knowledge requires not only holding a belief and having that belief be true, but also having adequate support for it.
While this framework remains influential, philosophers disagree about whether these conditions are sufficient or how they should be specified.
Justification
Justification concerns what makes a belief epistemically acceptable. Proposed sources of justification include evidence, reliable belief-forming processes, coherence with other beliefs, or responsiveness to reasons.
Different accounts of justification yield different standards for when a belief qualifies as knowledge.
Reliability and connection to truth
Many contemporary approaches emphasize the importance of a non-accidental connection between belief and truth. On these views, knowledge requires that beliefs arise from processes or methods that tend to produce true beliefs under relevant conditions.
This focus aims to exclude cases where a belief is true merely by coincidence.
Sources of knowledge
Commonly discussed sources of knowledge include perception, memory, testimony, and reasoning. Each source raises questions about scope, reliability, and interaction with others.
Disagreement persists over whether any source provides a foundational basis for all knowledge claims.
Knowledge and understanding
Knowledge is closely related to understanding but is not identical to it. One may possess knowledge of isolated facts without understanding how they fit together, and one may have partial understanding without possessing full or secure knowledge.
This distinction motivates treating understanding as a distinct epistemic achievement.
Knowledge and skepticism
Skepticism challenges whether knowledge is possible or whether justification can ever fully rule out error. Skeptical arguments test the limits of knowledge claims and motivate refinement of epistemic standards.
Responses to skepticism often reinterpret what knowledge requires rather than denying its possibility altogether.
Knowledge in science
Scientific inquiry aims to produce knowledge, but scientific knowledge is typically provisional and subject to revision. This raises questions about whether certainty is required for knowledge or whether fallible knowledge is sufficient.
These issues intersect with debates in the philosophy of science.
Context and standards
Some accounts treat knowledge as sensitive to context, with standards for knowing varying depending on stakes, background assumptions, or conversational setting.
Such approaches aim to explain how ordinary knowledge claims coexist with more demanding skeptical challenges.
Limits and disagreement
There is no single accepted theory of knowledge. Disagreement persists over its analysis, its sources, and its relation to truth, justification, and understanding.
These disagreements reflect deeper tensions about evidence, reliability, and epistemic norms.
Status
Knowledge is a foundational but contested concept in epistemology. Its analysis clarifies what is claimed when someone asserts that something is known, and what standards such claims presuppose.