20 Examples of Episteme

The concept of episteme It is used in philosophy and epistemology to refer to knowledge that is usually systematic, that is, that has a specific method, knowledge and object of study. For example: The knowledge produced by physics.

This knowledge is universally valid, it is empirically or rationally demonstrated and is opposed to the knowledge based on beliefs, because the latter cannot be verified or subjected to any type of experimentation.

However, the term episteme, originated in Ancient Greece, was modified at different times in history, because it was used to designate different concepts.

Episteme in classical antiquity

The concept of episteme emerged in this period with the ideas of Plato and was later modified in the theories developed by Aristotle.

Episteme according to Plato (427-374 BC). C.)

According to the Greek philosopher, the term episteme refers to knowledge that is true, absolute, universal and immutable and is opposed to the doxa, that is, the knowledge that is made up of opinions and beliefs and that, therefore, can be false, relative, particular and changeable.

To obtain true knowledge, it is necessary to be able to capture the Ideas of the intelligible world, which are those immutable entities that determine reality or the sensible world. But only a few, the philosophers, can contemplate them and, thus, manage to access the accurate and absolute knowledge of reality.

The tool used to achieve them is reason (which Plato calls logo). Instead, the senses are used to access the doxa, that is, the ideas of the sensible world that are an erroneous and changing copy of the true Ideas.

Some examples of episteme according to Plato are:

1. The philosophy. It is the set of knowledge that allows access to all universal, true and immutable Ideas.
2. The maths. It is the set of knowledge that allows access to the Ideas that have no correlate in the sensible world and that express the relationships between numbers.
3. Politics. It is the set of knowledge that allows access to true knowledge about the polis.

Espisteme according to Aristotle (384-322 a. C.)

For Aristotle, the episteme is also universal, true and immutable knowledge, but it only meets this condition the knowledge that allows to determine the first causes of the entities and of everything that happens in the universe.

First causes can be material (the material of an object), formal (the essence and structure of something), efficient (that which produces a change) or finals (the objective towards which something is directed) and with them the reason for everything is explained. existing.

Like Plato, Aristotle establishes that episteme is the opposite of doxa, knowledge based on beliefs and opinions. But logo to access true knowledge is not the same in the theories of the two philosophers, since, according to Aristotle, it can consist of two reasonings:

Some examples of episteme according to Aristotle are:

1. metaphysics. It is the set of knowledge that allows access to all the first causes.
2. Physics. It is the set of knowledge that allows access to the root causes of movement.
3. Ethics. It is the set of knowledge that allows access to the first causes of the just actions of men.

Episteme in the Middle Ages

In the Middle Ages, the episteme was mainly related to theology, that is, to the discipline that deals with studying the knowledge that is related to the deities and, in this particular case, with the God Christian.

Episteme according to Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274)

Thomas Aquinas takes up the Aristotelian ideas of episteme and also the reasoning used to find it. But in his theory he establishes that only the concepts that are in the Bible can be used to understand reality and that in this book is the true, universal and immutable.

Like Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas argues that knowing is knowing the first causes and that with them the essence of everything that exists, of good and evil, can be determined.

An example of episteme according to Thomas Aquinas is:

1. theology. It is the science that allows knowing God, that is, accessing the entity that represents the efficient cause, therefore, the origin of everything that exists in the world.

Episteme according to William of Ockham (1285-1347)

William of Ockham, without denying the existence of God, separates theology from science and produces a theory that differs from the postulates of Plato, Aristotle and Thomas of Aquinas, because he maintains that there are no universals, that is, immutable ideas or concepts that explain or are the cause of the existence of everything that is present in the world real.

For him, only particulars exist, that is, elements that are created by God, that share similarities, but that they have no characteristics in common and that, therefore, they are the only ones that can be acquaintances.

An example of an episteme according to William of Ockham is:

1. Occam's razor principle. This determines how knowledge should be produced and what is the object of study, since it assumes that if no one saw certain entities, these do not exist, therefore, the existence of entities does not depend on the existence of other entities that are not in the real plane.

Episteme in Modernity

There were different philosophers who were in charge of establishing what episteme is in this period, such as Hegel.

Episteme according to Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831)

The German philosopher takes up the Aristotelian concept of episteme, because he establishes that there is only one truth, which is absolute, rational and universal. But it introduces a modification, because it maintains that this is not immutable, but that it is changing (it always becomes another).

Hegel argues that in order to access a truth, it is necessary to know the future of the object, that is, to understand its dialectic, which is made up of three stages:

Some examples of episteme according to Hegel:

1. future of aesthetics.

• Affirmation. Aesthetics starts from painting, which is material.
• Denial. Aesthetics denies its material side with music, which is spiritual.
• denial of denial. Aesthetics comes to a resolution of the contradiction with poetry, which is material and spiritual, and the universal idea of ​​beauty is produced.

1. future of history, which is understood as the development of the spirit.

• Affirmation. Eastern monarchy, because it is the type of government in which the spirit has no freedom.
• Denial. Greek democracy, because it is the type of government in which the spirit is aware of freedom.
• denial of denial. Constitutional monarchy, because it is the type of government in which the spirit has freedom.

Episteme in the 20th century

In this period, there were different philosophers and thinkers who studied the notion of episteme. However, it was Michel Foucault, a French philosopher, who introduced the most radical changes to this concept.

Episteme according to Michel Foucault (1926-1984)

According to Michel Foucault, the notion of episteme does not refer to knowledge, but to the discourses that make it possible for certain knowledge to emerge at a time and establish what is true and what is no.

Two ideas follow from this; truth is something that is imposed by a power relationship and that takes place in a specific context and knowledge is not absolute or universal, but that it is contingent, because the historical conditions (the language, the values ​​and the hierarchies of science) determine if a statement is valid or not.

Therefore, a theory or a concept can be true at a certain moment, but not later. For example, the theory of the four humors, which is that the body contains four substances or humors that determine health, was valid from Ancient Greece until the 19th century, when it was discarded by the medicine.

Examples of episteme according to Foucault:

1. renaissance episteme (15th and 16th centuries). This period is characterized by a relationship of continuity and similarity between words and things (Foucault uses the term "things" to refer to what exists in the real world) and for affirming that everything is explainable and comparable with entities similar. For example, an analogy can be drawn between the functioning of the human body and the functioning of plants.
2. classical episteme (17th and 18th centuries). This period is characterized by a break in the relationship of continuity between words and things, because a relationship of representation is established between terms and referents. For this reason, similarity explanations are abandoned and conventional sign systems and categories are invented to describe the world. For example, natural history is elaborated, in which living beings are classified and a hierarchy of them is established in relation to their identities and their differences.

episteme today

At present, episteme is called the knowledge that is produced by a science, that is, that it is empirically verified. or rationally and that is opposed to doxa, that is, to knowledge that is not demonstrable and that is based on beliefs or opinions.

In addition, the term can also be used as a synonym for science. Physics, mathematics and biology are examples of episteme.

Some examples of episteme today:

1. The knowledge produced by astronomy. It is a set of laws that explains the functioning of bodies and the phenomena of space.
2. The knowledge produced by chemistry. It is a set of knowledge that explains the origin, characteristics and behavior of matter.
3. The knowledge produced by mathematics. It is a set of knowledge that rationally explains the properties and operations of numbers.
4. The knowledge produced by biology. It is a set of knowledge that explains the characteristics and behavior of living beings.
5. The knowledge produced by geology. It is a set of knowledge that states the characteristics and composition of the structure of the Earth.
6. The knowledge produced by paleontology. It is a set of knowledge that states the characteristics and history of living beings that inhabited the earth in the past.
7. The knowledge produced by geography. It is a set of knowledge that is used to describe and represent the earth.
8. The knowledge produced by medicine. It is the set of knowledge and techniques used to prevent, treat and cure diseases.
9. The knowledge produced by the economy. It is the set of knowledge that explains the production and trade of goods and services.
10. The knowledge produced by statistics. It is the set of knowledge that is used to analyze data, probabilities and proportions.

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