In philosophy it is called episteme to systematic knowledge, that is, it has a specific method, knowledge and object of study. For example: The knowledge produced by physics.
This knowledge can be empirically or rationally demonstrated and is opposed to knowledge based on beliefs, since this cannot be verified or subjected to any type of experimentation.
Beyond its classical conception, the episteme has been changing its meaning and object according to the different times in which it was addressed in one way or another. Today, and thanks to The words and the things (1966), by Michel Foucault, the episteme is thought of as the historical conditions of possibility of the discourses of knowledge. That is, the historical conditions in which knowledge of one or another era is produced.
Episteme in classical antiquity
The word episteme has its origin in the Greek epistome (ἐπιστήμη) and means “knowledge” or “science”. Both Plato and Aristotle spoke of episteme in opposition to the doxa or popular opinion. However, there are some differences between the two concepts.
Episteme according to Plato (427-374 BC)
In Plato’s work, the term episteme refers to true, absolute, universal and immutable knowledge. It is opposed to doxa, that is, to knowledge made up of opinions and beliefs and which, therefore, can be false, relative, particular and changeable.
To obtain true knowledge, it is necessary to be able to capture the ideas that inhabit the intelligible world, which are those immutable entities that determine reality or the sensible world. This task is reserved for those who dedicate themselves to philosophy, since directing attention to ideas requires special training. The tool used to reach ideas is the reason.
Some examples of episteme according to Plato are:
- The philosophy. It is the set of knowledge that allows access to universal, true and immutable ideas.
- The maths. It is the set of knowledge that allows access to ideas that have no correlate in the sensible world and that express the relationships between numbers.
- Politics. It is the set of knowledge that allows access to true knowledge about the polis.
Episteme according to Aristotle (384-322 BC)
For Aristotle, only the knowledge that allows determining the first causes of being meets the necessary conditions to be an episteme.
The first causes can be material (the material of an object), formal (the essence and structure of something), efficient (what produces a change) or final (the goal towards which something is directed), and with them explains the reason for everything that exists.
Like Plato, Aristotle states that episteme is the opposite of doxa, knowledge based on beliefs and opinions. The way of finding knowledge proceeds in two ways:
- Deduction. It is a reasoning that starts from particular concepts, which describe reality, to reach universal concepts, which are causes or definitions.
- Induction. It is a reasoning of intellectual intuition, whose best-known type is the syllogism, which consists of two propositions, which are premises, and another, which is a conclusion derived from the first. The objective is to give logical validity to universal statements, which are the results of inductive reasoning.
Some examples of episteme according to Aristotle are:
- metaphysics. It is the set of knowledge that allows access to all the first causes.
- Physics. It is the set of knowledge that allows access to the first causes of movement.
- 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, which is the discipline that deals with studying the knowledge that one has of God and of the different religious beliefs.
Episteme according to Thomas Aquinas (1224-1274)
Thomas Aquinas takes up the Aristotelian ideas of episteme but establishes that only the concepts that are in the sacred scriptures can be used to understand reality. According to this thinker, in the Old Testament and in the Gospels is true, universal and immutable knowledge.
Like Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas states that to know is to know the first causes and that with them the essence of everything that exists, and even of good and evil, can be determined.
An example of episteme according to Thomas Aquinas is:
- theology. It is the science that allows us to know God, that is, to access the entity that represents the efficient cause and, 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 Aquinas. He maintains that there are no universal concepts, that is, immutable ideas or concepts that explain or are the cause of the existence of everything that is present in the real world. According to Ockham, there are only particulars, that is, elements that are created by God, that share similarities, but have no characteristics in common and, therefore, are the only ones that can be known.
An example of episteme according to William of Ockham is:
- The principle of Ockham’s razor. This principle determines how knowledge should be produced and what is the object of study, since it assumes that if no one saw certain entities, they 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
Modernity is a broad and diverse period in which different discourses about episteme and knowledge in general appeared. The most important of them was probably the one held by Hegel.
Episteme according to Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831)
Hegel takes up the Aristotelian concept of episteme to establish that there is only one rational and universal truth. He introduces a modification and says that the truth is not immutable, but that it is changing (it always becomes another), since the truth occurs in the world, which is constant change.
Hegel argues that in order to access a truth, it is necessary to know the evolution of the object, that is, to understand its dialectic, which is made up of three stages:
- Affirmation. It is the statement of an idea.
- Denial. It is the negation of the idea that was enunciated.
- denial of denial. It is the enunciation of a new idea, which is the resolution of the contradiction between affirmation and denial.
Some examples of episteme according to Hegel:
- Becoming of aesthetics.
- Affirmation. The aesthetic part of the 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.
- Becoming of history, which is understood as the development of the spirit.
- Affirmation. The Eastern monarchy is the type of government in which the spirit has no freedom.
- Denial. Greek democracy is the type of government in which the spirit is conscious of freedom.
- denial of denial. The constitutional monarchy is the type of government in which the spirit has freedom.
Episteme in the 20th century
In the 20th century it was Michel Foucault, a French philosopher, who introduced the most radical changes to the idea of episteme.
Episteme according to Michel Foucault (1926-1984)
According to Michel Foucault, the notion of episteme does not refer to knowledge, but to the historical conditions of possibility of the discourses that make it possible for certain knowledge to emerge at a time and that establish what is true and what is not.
Two ideas emerge from these speeches:
- The truth is something that is imposed by a power relationship and that takes place in a specific context.
- Knowledge is neither absolute nor universal, but rather contingent, since it is the historical conditions (language, values and hierarchies of science) that determine whether a statement is valid or not.
A theory or a concept can be true at a certain moment and 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 medicine.
Examples of episteme according to Foucault:
- renaissance episteme (15th and 16th centuries). This period was 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 by affirming that everything is explainable and comparable with similar entities. For example, an analogy can be established between the functioning of the human body and the functioning of plants.
- classical episteme (17th and 18th centuries). This period was characterized by a break in the relationship of continuity between words and things: a relationship of representation was established between terms and referents. For this reason, explanations of similarities were put aside and systems of conventional signs and categories were invented to describe the world. For example, the natural history was developed, in which living beings were classified and a hierarchy was established between them in relation to their identities and their differences.
Episteme at present
At present, knowledge that is produced by a science is called an episteme, that is, that is empirically or rationally proven. Therefore, the term can also be used as a synonym for science. Physics, mathematics and biology are examples of episteme.
Some examples of episteme today:
- The knowledge produced by astronomy. It is a set of laws that explains the functioning of bodies and the phenomena of space.
- The knowledge produced by chemistry. It is a set of knowledge that explains the origin, characteristics and behavior of matter.
- The knowledge produced by mathematics. It is a set of knowledge that rationally explains the properties and operations of numbers.
- The knowledge produced by biology. It is a set of knowledge that explains the characteristics and behavior of living beings.
- The knowledge produced by geology. It is a set of knowledge that states the characteristics and composition of the Earth’s structure.
- 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.
- The knowledge produced by geography. It is a set of knowledge that is used to describe and represent the Earth.
- The knowledge produced by medicine. Is the set…