Metaepistemology

Core concepts

Distinctions

Schools of thought

Topics as well as views

Specialized domains of inquiry

Notable epistemologists

Related fields

Metaepistemology is a branch of epistemology as living as metaphilosophy that studies the underlying assumptions portrayed in debates in epistemology, including those concerning the existence and direction of epistemic facts and reasons, the shape and intention of epistemology, and the methodology of epistemology.

Perspectives in methodological debates increase traditional epistemology which argues for the ownership of intuitions and for the autonomy of epistemology from science, experimental philosophy which argues against intuitions and for the ownership of empirical studies in epistemology, pragmatism which argues for the reconstruction of epistemic conception topractical goals, naturalism which argues that epistemology should be empirical and scientifically-informed, and feminism which criticises androcentric bias in epistemology and argues for the use of feminist method.

Terminology

According to philosopher Dominique Kuenzle, metaepistemology is non an develop term in contemporary philosophy, only having been used by a few philosophers throughout the twentieth and twenty-first century after being coined by Roderick Firth in a 1959 article analyse the views of Roderick Chisholm on the ethics of belief. In 1968, Richard Brandt used the term in an everyone in the Encyclopedia of Philosophy to refer to a higher-order discipline in epistemology, analogous to metaethics, which attempts to explain epistemic concepts and to understand the underlying "logic" of epistemic statements. In 1978, similarly inspired by the clear of Roderick Chisholm, William Alston released "Meta-Ethics and Meta-Epistemology", the first paper with the explicit goal of develop the distinction between metaepistemology and "substantive" epistemology, in which he defined metaepistemology as the study of "the conceptual and methodological foundations of [epistemology]." Whilst subsequent theorists using the term have agreed on the need for a distinction between metaepistemology and other areas of epistemology, there are substantial disagreements approximately how and where to draw the lines. Kuenzle describes three different conceptions of metaepistemology that have been used in the philosophical literature: metaepistemology as the epistemology of epistemology, metaepistemology as the examination of epistemology's goals, methods and criteria of adequacy, and metaepistemology as the study of the semantic, epistemic and pragmatic status of epistemic statements and judgements.

The Blackwell Dictionary of Western Philosophy defines metaepistemology as the "epistemology of epistemology" and states that it "analyzes basic epistemic concepts, determining their limits and the conditions of their application." The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy characterises metaepistemology as a branch of metaphilosophy which "studies the goals, methods, and necessary assumptions of [epistemology]." The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines metaepistemology as "the study of the nature, aims, methods and legitimacy of epistemology" whilst the anthologies Metaepistemology: Realism and Anti-Realism and Metaepistemology respectively define it as "the branch of epistemology that asks questions about the existence, types and rule of epistemic facts and reasons" and "the metaphysics, epistemology, psychology, and language of epistemology." Similarly, the Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy defines metaepistemology as inquiring into "fundamental aspects of epistemic theorizing like metaphysics, epistemology, semantics, agency, psychology, responsibility, reasons for belief, and beyond." The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy states that metaepistemology "takes a step back from particular substantive debates in epistemology in an arrangement of parts or elements in a particular form figure or combination. to inquire into the assumptions and commitments presents by those who engage in these debates."