| Unit name | Epistemology |
|---|---|
| Unit code | PHIL20009 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | I/5 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
| Unit director | Professor. Okasha |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
PHIL10005 Introduction to Philosophy A, PHIL10006 Introduction to Philosophy B. |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of Philosophy |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts, Law and Social Sciences |
The unit begins with the attempts of philosophers to provide an analysis of the concept of knowledge, discussing the 'trust justified belief' formula, Gettier- style counterexamples to that formula, causal and reliabilist theories, and Nozick's conditional theory. It then moves on to the nature of belief and justification, leading to a discussion of foundationalist versus coherentist models of knowledge. The course concludes with a survey of various sources of knowledge such as the a priori, perception, and induction, and of the extent and degree of certainty of the types of knowledge that each makes possible. The threat of the sceptic poses an ever-present challenge.
