Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics

Epistemology, ethics, and metaphysics form the core of philosophy's attempt to understand what we know, how we ought to act, and what kinds of things fundamentally exist. Epistemologists probe the conditions under which a belief counts as genuine knowledge rather than lucky guessing — asking, for instance, whether testimony from others can justify belief in the same way that direct perception can, and whether skeptical scenarios (like the possibility that all experience is an illusion) reveal real limits on human knowledge or merely point to confusions in how we talk about certainty. Current work pushes into questions about epistemic intuitions — whether people's pre-theoretical judgments about knowledge cases are reliable guides to philosophical theory — and into the social dimensions of knowing, including who counts as an expert and when deference to authority is rational. These inquiries matter practically because conclusions about justification and truth shape how we evaluate trust, disagreement, and the norms governing what we are entitled to assert.

Works

63,478

Total citations

744,985

Keywords

KnowledgeBeliefJustificationEpistemic IntuitionsTestimonySkepticism