So, what is epistemology? Is it an important subject to study? Why/why not?
What have you learned in the course that surprised you?
What is the most valuable idea/lesson/argument you will take away from class?
What is still confusing to you or never seemed worthwhile?
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Epistemology is the study of knowledge. Yes it is an important subject to study because it allows us to search deeper into the meaning of our own beliefs along with other's beliefs.
ReplyDeleteThe most surprising thing I learned in this course was that feminism has many different beliefs. Feminists may have a common goal but they believe the goal can be attained in different ways.
The most valuable lesson I will take with me is the many different ways feminists believe their goals should be achieved.
The main item that I still see as confusing would have to be the body and the mind and whether or not they can exist without each other.
Epistemology is the study of knowledege and justified true beliefs. I believe it is important because everyone should be educated on how knowledge is created, and how knowledge is generated.
ReplyDeleteThe most suprising thing I learned over the past 2 months was how many different types of epistemology's there were. Being my first philosophy class, you don't know what you're getting yourself into till you committ to it. I've learned a lot and felt this was a good class to be my first.
There are a few things that I am still confused about. LIke Lyndsey, the mind and the body existing without each other will always be an interesting topic no matter what philosophy class you're taking.
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ReplyDeleteEpistemology is the study of knowledge: what we know and how we know it.
ReplyDeleteThe most valuable thing I will take from the class is our exploration of social epistemology. I enjoyed learning about it, and even took it upon myself to look into some complementary theories of it...I wrote a thought paper on it.
I was confused at first...for the first couple of classes, I was convinced that no one could know anything--which was depressing--but that was mostly cleared up. Oh, and armchair philosophy is still a little shaky for me.
The most valuable thing about this class is that it challenged me to form opinions that can be justified and supported with evidence or by a logical argument. What good is an empty opinion if nothing solid supports why you believe it. I liked how our epistemology class was able to spark creativity in my thinking and teach me new, interesting, or just really strange ways of looking at the world. The whole concept of a skeptic is really cool. At first I wasn’t sure how useful it was to doubt EVERYTHING. But now I see that knowledge SHOULD be questioned, because that is what epistemology is all about.
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ReplyDeleteEpistemology is the study of knowledge. In my particular field, I don't really know if it's important or not. I learned a lot of interesting things and I am glad I took this course. It was nice to have a class that you could question things and think outside the box. I enjoyed the "freedom of speech" in this class and all of the "whys" and "what ifs". Now I can say that I am glad that I took this class but I really wasn't sure what I got myself into after the first couple of classes. The class opened my eyes to different ways to think about things and different ways to view situations. I think it was definately worth my time, it was a good course.
ReplyDeleteAs we know now, epistemology is the study of knowledge and justified true beliefs. I think its important to study knowledge because knowledge has a whole deeper meaning to it than most would think.
ReplyDeleteLike a few in the class, this was my first time studying philosophy as a subject. I learned that epistemology has so many different parts to it, in which all of them have important meaning towards studying knowledge.
I learned a lot of interesting things in this class that I had no idea i would ever know or study. The first couple of classes were a bit shaky to me and I didn't know whether I would Like it or not, but after that I began to enjoy it. After these two months I can safely say that I enjoyed it, and those 3 and a half hour classes weren't as long as I thought they would be.
Epistemology is the study of knowledge and is important to study because it delves deep into the meaning of "how do we know things?" and how do we know for sure about these thngs, that our mind isn't playing tricks on us? Epistemology examines one's beliefs and the meanings behind those beliefs.
ReplyDeleteI have learned about different branches of epistemology that I never knew existed as well as about perceptions and how skepticism is a part of everyday life. The most valuable thing I will take away from the class is knowing that there are so many different viewpoints on epistemology, perceptions, skepticism, etc. I have enjoyed the class, even though I was terrified at first. Some things are still confusing for me- I tend to get some of the branches of epistemology confused- but at least I know they exist.
Epistemology is the study of knowledge and justified belief. I think epistemology is important for us to study because it allows us to understand our beliefs on a deeper level. For instance, how do we attain knowledge, how do we justify our knowledge. The most valuable thing I learned in this class was all the different concepts/ different kinds of epistemology there is. For instance, social epistemology/ naturalized epistemology ( replacement naturalism, cooperative naturalism) The most valuable lesson I was able to learn from this class was the ability to form my opinion and understand difficult material. The material still remains a little difficult for me. However, I enjoyed the challenged and think I have a better understand then I thought I would. One concept I don't exactly understand is how some philosophers don't believe in incorporating science into epistemology.
ReplyDeleteEpistemology is the study of justified knowledge and includes questions about how and what we can know. Whether individuals recognize it or not, most people contemplate the questions posed by Epistemology every day. If you've ever wondered, "Why did that pop into my head?" or "Why does he or she believe that?", you've dabbled in Epistemology. I think it is important to recognize Epistemology as a discipline because understanding these questions can lead to greater understanding in other disciplines, as well as life.
ReplyDeleteI am a Type A personality. I like clear paths, black and white, yes or no or 1 and 2. If a decision needs to be made, I will make it. I guess what has surprised me the most is that I have adjusted as well as I have to NOT having an answer. Though I was occassionally frustrated when I thought I understood something and was suddenly thrown a curve ball by a response to that critique, it hasn't bothered me as much as I anticipated.
The most valuable lesson is that having an answer isn't enough..you've got to believe it and you've got to be able to justify it....and someone else is always going to have a better answer :)
I was surprised to learn how many different approaches there are to epistemology; even more specifically, there are different approaches to certain subcategories such as social epistemology. It seems that while this may be beneficial to achieve noting everyone's perspective, it is difficult to make any definitive kind of statement that is supported by the public when you are not supported by your colleagues. I am still not sure how the chapter on rationality amounted to anything. This was my first class on philosophy, and we emphasized how important making an argument that can beat the skeptics is, but this chapter seemed to disregard them carelessly. One of my favorite things I learned was that even starting with a conclusion that someone doesn't agree with (BIV argument) or an outline of premises that aren't super strong (Descartes' God argument), if you carefully define each premise with truth and make a logical argument, the end cannot be disagreed with easily.
ReplyDeleteEpistemology is the study of knowledge. It is an important subject to study because so much is based on it. It is the foundation of many western ideas and it will lead us into a deeper knowing of the world around us.
ReplyDeleteI learned that I understand more of this than I give myself credit for. Although, I found it was easier for me the play the skeptic rather than the epistemologist. I also learned of the different stages of the Feminist movement and the role it plays in western thinking.
The most valuable idea I will take from this course is the vast number of ways to think about thinking and knowing. I will remember the headaches I felt while trying to sort all the information that was thrown at me during the class and hope I can keep some of the general ideas with me.
There are still some things that confuse me. Then I realized, it is others like me who was confused by the teachings before them who came up with their own philosophies.
Epistemology is the study of knoweldge and justified truth. Yes, I believe that it is an important subject to study. I believe that we should study epistemology so that we can better understand knowledge, how to aquire it, what the limits are, who has it, etc. It can only better us. Something in the class I learned that suprised me because I already knew the concept, is the Aggripas Trilemma. I already knew the concept behind this and the situations that you use it in, however, I did not realize what the actual name of it was and what the importance of it was. The most valuable lesson I will take away from class is probably all of the different sub categories of epistemology there are, which is just another way of saying there are many different areas of knowledge that are actually classified into sub categories. I belive that overall everything at first was confusing to me, the words and reading were just so much and i felt overwhelmed. So i think there are probably still little parts here and there that are still confusing, but thats life. However, I did enjoy the class and I look forward to taking the next on in the spring. :)
ReplyDeleteEpistemology is the study of knowledge and how we know the things we know. I think it's important to understand and study why we know the things we know in order to have to evidence to support an argument or a belief. I think it's interesting all of the different perspectives and point of views in philosophy. The most valuable thing I will take with me is the variety of ways the human brain thinks. Everybody's mind works so differently how we process thoughts and knowledge. I'm still confused on many of the things we covered. I think philosophy is very abstract and my brain has difficulty thinking that way.
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