SCI.OF.EPIST

file sci.of.epist 10:55 am Oct 26, 1994/7:29 pm Feb 7, 1992

             The science of epistemology

How can epistemology be a science? For epistemology to be more than a part of philosophy it must accomplish several things. These are: there must be knowledge in a concrete enough sense that it can be studied and knowledge developed about it that can be tested towards it validity. Epistemology is such that the methods of validating a hypothesis are different than any other science because the object of its endeavor (knowledge) is the same thing as its object of study (knowledge). The end result of epistemology is knowledge of knowledge. How much knowledge about knowledge exists is a question like how many elements exist. Or does knowledge of knowledge really exist. If knowledge of knowledge does not exist then does epistemology exist as a science? This is the same type of question as: If no knowledge at all exists then can science really exist? Science exists because of its usefulness to man. And because of mans desire to understand and predict happenings in his environment. Not because real knowledge exists or doesn't exists and in the same way epistemology can exist as a science because we need to be able to understand the things that science is producing whether knowledge of knowledge exists or not. What are the boundaries of knowledge? They are no more clear cut than any other science because every science graduates into other sciences. For example, Biochemistry, biophysics, social psychology etc. they have developed out of the areas that include both biology and chemistry, biology and physics and sociology and psychology respectively. One way of looking at epistemology is as a simplifying agent for both understanding and simplifying the sciences.

One of the basic premises is that we can not know anything for certain. Even mathematical truths are only as valid as their premises, axioms and rules of manipulation. If the axioms are incorrect or the rules of manipulation invalid then the results are also incorrect. This does not mean we can not know any thing it only means that we can not be certain of what we know. Since epistemology is the study of knowledge and we can not be certain of what is knowledge then how do we know when we are studying knowledge? We can have knowledge of things that do not exist. We can know about hamlet because of a play by shakespeare but this hamlet does not exist. The play Hamlet does exist. We can also know about people and any number of other things in plays and stories that have not been written yet.

May 17, 1988

Scientific epistemology is different than philosophical epistemology. Scientific epistemology is the science that studies knowledge. Philosophical epistemology is the study of the theory of knowledge. Philosophical epistemology tries to make a distinction between what is true and what is false. What is true is what is knowledge and what is false is not. Scientific epistemology looks at knowledge in a different way. Since at best, we can only guess at the probability of the truth of certain knowledge,and develop reasons for the probability and the guess, true knowledge is an unattainable goal. Basically, science develops proofs or reasons why we attach a high probability to certain knowledge being true and other knowledge being false. When we have very good reason for believing that something is true we call it knowledge. when we have good reasons for believing that something is false, we don’t call it knowledge. Scientific epistemology does not dwell on if a theory is true or false but on the structure of the theory and on the structure of the proof. It finds similarities among theories and differences. It tries to organize and simplify theories for ease of use, understanding, and modification. It tries to stream line scientific understanding and creativity. because the more we know the more we realize how little we know. By studying theories we develop knowledge about those theories that is analytical like mathematics. The theories do not have to be true or false only analyzable. Once they are analyzable they can be compared to look for similarities and differences. Not all of the concepts in a theory may be understandable but what is can be compared and the questionable part delineated. We end up with knowledge about knowledge, or more correctly knowledge about theories that can be about everything.

A science that studies knowledge has many differences from other sciences.Other sciences study certain phenomena or groups of things,and tries to develop knowledge about those things. Epistemological sciences study knowledge and tries to develop knowledge about knowledge. The epistemological scientists develop both explanatory and predictive theories about knowledge, just as a physicist would develop predictive and explanatory theories about matter and energy. There is no doubt that the human mind or brain effects how we think about knowledge. We can not restrict our view of knowledge to just a human view, we must take a universal view as if looking through any mind or brain structure. Many mind or brain structures will be simpler or equivalent to our own but, there are more complicated mind or brain structures than our own that we must also see knowledge through. Every science has its epistemological equivalent. And epistemology studies every science. Epistemological biology for instance is a type of biology that uses epistemology principles to study and understand biology. On the other hand biological epistemology is an area of epistemology that studies biological knowledge and theories in the hope of producing knowledge about knowledge about biology.

Mathematics is called a science by some especially now that mathematics is being studied experimentally with the use of computers.

Dated 9:04 am October 23, 1988

SCIEPISTEMOLOGY -- scientific epistemology Sciepistemology