Epistemology

9. Contemporary epistemology: issues and trends

Contemporary epistemology is a thriving field, rich in topic areas and interdisciplinary in its methodologies. As such, the field continues to engage traditional questions about the nature, value and scope of knowledge, but also expands to include questions about the social dimensions of knowledge, the relations among knowledge, assertion and practical reason, and how knowledge interacts with social-political issues.

Other issues in epistemology include the sources of knowledge (see Innate knowledge; Introspection, epistemology of; Memory, epistemology of; Perception, epistemic issues in; Testimony), the possibility of knowledge in different domains (see Moral epistemology; Moral scepticism; Religion and epistemology) the structure of knowledge (see Coherence theories of knowledge and justification; Epistemic infinitism; Foundationalism), the pragmatics of knowledge language (see Contextualism, epistemological), relations between knowledge and practical interests (see Contextualism, epistemological; Pragmatic encroachment), formal epistemology (see Probability theory and epistemology), other epistemic goods such as rational belief, understanding and wisdom (see Justification, epistemic; Rational beliefs; Understanding; Wisdom), and the nature and varieties of ignorance (see Ignorance).