EPISTEMOLOGY

Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that is concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge. It attempts to answer basic questions such as : What is knowledge? What distinguishes true (adequate ) knowledge from false inadequate) knowledge? How we know what we know? this implies questioning the sources and nature and accuracy of our knowledge in hope that we will have a more informed understanding of what we know and do not know.t is the theory of knowledge especially with regards to how it relates to connected notions such as truth, validity, opinion and belief.

KNOWLEDGE

This refers to facts information and skills acquired through experience or education. It can also be seen state or fact of knowing. knowledge is acquired through experience or study by familiarity , awareness or understanding. The following can considered major sources of knowledge: (a)sense experience: That which can be perceived through the experiences of the senses. The view that experience is the primary source of knowledge is called empiricism. (b) Reason: This can be described as the process of using known facts to arrive at new facts. Rationalist holds that through reason knowledge can be acquired. There is clearly a limit to what we can learn through abstract thought alone but rationalist claim that reason play a major role in observation, and so the mind is more fundamental than the senses in the process of knowledge acquisition. (c)Authority: This refers to knowledge acquired from higher authority in that field ; teachers ,books , articles , discourses by scholars and educators in their various fields of study. All of our historical knowledge is acquired in this way as is most of the knowledge of the sciences. Other people are continual sources of information. However, second hand and third hand. The farther it is removed from our own personal experience the more caution we must exercise before accepting a claim. We must trust the specialist and accept though not blindly the discoveries they record for use. (d)Revelation: This refers to knowledge acquired through visions , dreams etc. They can not be verified scientifically, only accepted by faith.