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Epistemology
Epistemology, or TOK, theory of knowledge, a branch of philosophy, delves into the nature, origin, and scope of knowledge. It seeks to answer fundamental questions such as: What is knowledge? How is knowledge acquired? Can we differentiate between knowledge and mere opinions? Can we agree on if something is knowledge? Is there some knowledge we can all agree upon? Is knowledge/not knowledge on a black-and-white scale?
So, what is knowledge? How can it be defined?
A classical definition of knowledge is that knowledge is Justified true belief – but all those words are problematic. We can try to define them, at least as a starting point.
- Justified: Having a good reason for one’s belief (but the Gettier problem shows at least one problem with this part).What could be sources for the justification? Perception, reason, previous experiences, someone’s testimony, or faith?
- True: Being in accord with fact or reality. Then the question is, what can we even know about reality, or if it even exists? Here we can move between Solipsism, where the belief is that the only thing we can know is that our mind exists, to naïve realism where one believes that the senses provide us with direct awareness of objects as they really are – and this is just along one possible axis of analysis.
- Belief: We believe that x is true. We have a mental state or stance thinking that x is true.
The Tablets game
This is a kind of game where you are to explore the above, or perhaps not? Who knows?
This game is inspired by an idea by a former colleague of mine, Per Sjunneson.
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