NAME: MUOGBO I.

MICHAEL
MATRIC NUMBER: SS/PP/2368
COURSE: INTRODUCTION TO EPISTEMOLOGY
COURSE CODE: SS/PHL/204
LECTURER: DR. RONALD O. BADRU
TOPIC: CRITICALLY DISCUSS THE FOCUS OF EPISTEMOLOGY IN THE CONTEMPORARY ERA.
INTRODUCTION
Epistemology as a disciplinary term derives from a lexical composition of two Greek words; episteme and
logos. Episteme means knowledge and logos means theory. A lexical synthesis of these two Greek words
gives the etymological meaning of epistemology as the theory of knowledge. Epistemology as a theory of
knowledge means it deals with the analysis of sets of facts as principles that guide our understanding of
issues that relates to knowledge. As a theory, it generally investigates the nature and possibility of
knowledge.
1
nowledge presupposes consciousness.
Epistemology as a discourse and a branch of philosophy has its goal to attain in the different eras or
epochs of the history of philosophy. !isregarding the epistemological goals of the different epochs of
philosophy, epistemology has a central and basic goal that it strives towards its attainment" it aims to serve
as an identification of principles for evaluating beliefs in an attempt to ac#uire true beliefs and avoid false
beliefs, providing ade#uate reason and $ustification for the truthfulness of a belief.
As earlier mentioned in this paper, epistemology has its goals to attain in the different epochs that existed
in the history of philosophy, starting from the ancient epoch down to this our contemporary era. %his term
paper is concerned with a critical discussion of the focus of epistemology in the contemporary epoch of
philosophy. &efore ' proceed with the interest of this paper, ' wish to make a clarification of concept that
are used or would be used in the course of this discussion.
CONCEPTUAL CLARIFICATION
Epistemology as examined etymologically above means the theory of knowledge. 'n dealing with this
course, there are certain fundamental #uestions one has to give answers to, #uestions like" is there
knowledge( )hat is knowledge( )hat is the nature of knowledge( 's knowledge valuable( )hat is the
value of knowledge(
%he answer to the #uestions above is necessary for one to truly grasp, understand and assimilate the worth
and essence of this branch of philosophy as an academic discipline. %his is necessary so as to clearly
understand the sub$ect matter of epistemology. 't also enables us to know how to apply the concept of
knowledge because that is what the analysis of a concept does. %he expression *to know+ is a slippery
one. 't is not always used in the same sense.
,
nowledge is a $ustified true belief, not $ust any belief. 'f a
belief is true and $ustified, then it #ualifies to be called knowledge.
-
.or knowledge to be, one needs to
1 Anselm K. Jimoh. Certitude and doubt, Ebony books and creations, Ibadan, Oyo state. 2013. pg 20
2 Ibid pg 2
3 Joseph Omoregbe. A simplified history of western philosophy, volume three: conptemporary philosophy.
Jo!a press limited, "aryland, Ike!a, #agos. 200$. pg 1$
ascertain a true belief. nowledge has been a fascinating cause for reflection because of its advantage over
ignorance and in the contemporary society; knowledge confers power on those that possess it.
As this paper is concerned with the focus of epistemology in the contemporary era, it would be of
importance to clarify the concept of the contemporary era with regards to this work. %he contemporary era
is one of the four main epochs in the history of philosophy. %his era started because of the attempt of
philosophers to refute the positions of idealism and the main sub$ect of discussion in the era is the
$ustification of true belief, the Gettier problem. %his era also includes the philosophy of this our present
time. %he contemporary period in the history of philosophy has altered epistemology considerably
THE FOCUS OF EPISTEMOLOGY IN THE CONTEMPORARY ERA
/ight from the historical beginning of philosophy, philosophers are said to have directed all their effort
towards the focus of knowledge for ages, though they all focused on different forms of knowledge. .or
instance, the knowledge that the first 0ilesian trio 1philosophers2 of the ancient period of philosophy seek
is not the same as to what philosophers in the medieval period seek though all are under the roof of
epistemic #uest.
%he contemporary period of philosophy is said to have taken a different form of thinking and philosophy
and it is dominated by many philosophical schools of thought and methods of philosophi3ing which
includes logical positivism, pragmatism, neo4idealist, phenomenologist, existentialism, analytic
movements etc.
LOGICAL POSITIVISM" otherwise known as neo4positivism, logical positivism is a contemporary
philosophical school of thought which dates back to the classical positivism of a 15 century philosopher,
Auguste 6omte. 7ogical positivists were scientists turned philosophers.
th
%hey emphasi3ed and maintained
a rigorously scientific attitude towards knowledge. %hey emphasi3ed on the power of scientific method in
an attainment of a genuine and $ustifiable knowledge about the world. %hey held that genuine knowledge
must be based on experience and it must be about observable phenomena. %he logical positivists believed
that assumptions are meaningless if they cannot be verified and shown to be true or false.
8hilosophers in line with this school of thought include /udolf 6arnap, 9tto :eurath, ;ans /iecheribach,
/ichard <on 0ises etc.
THE PRAGMATISTS: this is a philosophical school of thought in the contemporary era of the history of
philosophy that emphasi3es on the philosophical theory of meaning and truth. %his philosophical
movement was started in America by 6.= 8ierce and developed by )illiams >ames and >ohn !ewey. 't is
a theory offering the method for the determination of meaning and truth values of an idea or proposition.
6harles =anders 8ierce in one of his formulations of the basic principles of pragmatism says" in order to
ascertain the meaning of an intellectual conception, one should consider what practical conse#uences that
might conceivably result by necessity from the truth of that conception; and the sum of these
conse#uences will constitute the entire meaning of conception.
?
EXISTENTIALISM: this is a contemporary philosophy school of thought that concerns itself with
human existence with all its characteristic features. 't is regarded best as a movement and not a school. :o
doubt, it is the most influential philosophical movement in the contemporary era with regards to their
philosophical positions.
th Ibid pg 10
% ibid pg 1%.
8hilosophers of this movement include arl >aspers, 0artin ;eidegger, Gabriel 0arcel, >ean48aul =atre,
0aurice 0erleau48onty, Albert 6asmus etc.
ANALYTIC MOVEMENT: this is a contemporary philosophical movement that comes up to depose the
position of idealism. %his philosophical movement was led by G.E 0oore, & /ussell and )ittgenstein.
%his movement mostly concerned itself with defending the doctrines of common sense.
USTIFICATION OF TRUE BELIEF: the most current issue in the contemporary era of philosophy is
that of Edmund Gettier. 'n the contemporary focus of epistemology, there is what is called propositional
knowledge. 8ropositional knowledge also called *know that+ is so called because it is an epistemic claim
expressed using a proposition, declarative claims, while the latter, procedural knowledge otherwise called
*know how+ is so called because the knowledge involves emphasis on how to do something.
.rom the ancient period of 8lato@s philosophy to 15A, there was a belief in the three basic values of
propositional knowledge" truth, belief and $ustification. %his is because false proposition is not a sub$ect of
knowledge so it re#uires truth, so for one to know, he must believe that he knows and this entails belief
and belief must be based on concrete evidences therefore it needs $ustification.
GETTIER!S PROBLEM OF "NO#LEDGE:
Edmund Gettier is a contemporary philosopher who came along to counter argue the possibility of the
three elements discussed above. .or Gettier, it is a possibility for one to have the three fundamental
elements without knowing. Gettier backed up his argument with his article titled $%& '(&)%*%+, )-(+ .+/%+*
0123/+,4+56 Gettier argued against the traditional definition of knowledge.
About five decades now, since the advent of Gettier counter example, analytic philosophers have struggled
either to defend the standard analysis of knowledge against Gettier@s example or to revise the standard
analysis of knowledge in the light of Gettier@s example. %he debate is largely an attempt to revamp the
necessary and sufficient conditions for knowledge. 't is about making a proper distinction between
knowledge and belief, giving a better and more comprehensible analysis of $ustification to what it entails
and what it does not, and how best to deduce from the given proposition, and how to differentiate between
first person and third person knowledge.
B
CONCLUSION:
%he contemporary era of philosophy constitutes of the period between the 15 century till this
our present time. %he main focus of this period or epoch of philosophy is the issue of $ustified true belief
as Gettier would ask" *is $ustified true belief knowledge(+
%his epoch is characteri3ed with many moments, theories and philosophical schools of thought and
this period in the history of philosophy has altered epistemology considerably; it made a great contribution
to epistemology. %he three paged article, is $ustified true belief knowledge(, of Edmund Gettier brought
about a great debate in this period of philosophical history. 'n the attempt to define knowledge issues were
exposed about the understanding of human knowledge. %he definition and concept of knowing stipulates
belief, truth and $ustification.
$ Anselm K. Jimoh. Certitude and doubt, Ebony books and creations, Ibadan, Oyo state. 2013. pg 3&.