# Epistemology glossary

Epistemology - The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope of [knowledge](understanding.md).

## What is knowledge?

Behaviorism - Presuming materialism (see above), the mind isn't significant to anything else, so it can be researched [scientifically](science.md) without considering inner mental states.

- Logical/analytical behaviorism - Mental concepts can be explained as behavioral concepts.
  - Computationalism - thoughts are merely calculated, computed things without any additional elements to them
- Methodological behaviorism - Psychological data must be outwardly measurable, so only what people do can be measured or controlled.
  - Psychological behaviorism - People learn by things beyond normal animal understanding, since we have a remarkable learning ability.
  - Radical/Skinner behaviorism - Human behaviors are learned, so even people's thoughts can be measured or controlled.
  - Post-Skinnerism/Teleological behaviorism - Human behaviors are learned, so [large groups](groups-large.md) can be measured (close to [macroeconomics](money-economics.md)).

Conventionalism - Some fundamental [universals of existence](humanity-universals.md) are grounded on agreements in society, not strictly on [reality](reality.md).

Dialetheism - Some statements can be both true and false at the same exact time.

Empiricism/Experimentalism - All knowledge comes from experiences, so there's no innate understanding about the world. Opposite of rationalism.

- Associationism - Mental processes are connected to other mental processes.
- Verificationism - We tend to verify what we experience, so what we've verified is effectively truth.

Externalism - The conscious mind isn't only what's going inside, but also things happening outside it. Opposite of internalism.

Externism - Only outside experience is certain, and there's nothing certain inside the mind. Opposite of solipsism.

Ethnocentrism - People view their environment through their [culture](people-culture.md).

- Methodological relativism - A researcher must suspend their [cultural biases](people-culture.md) to understand other [beliefs](understanding-certainty.md) and [behaviors](results.md).
- Polylogism - People think differently because of the [groups](groups-small.md) they're in.

Innatism - The mind is born with ideas or knowledge, so not all of it comes from experiences. Contrasts against empiricism.

Internalism - Actions are always caused by desires and beliefs, never facts about the world. Opposite of externalism.

Linguistic determinism - Our [language](language.md) determines how we understand things.

- Descriptivism - The meanings of names are the descriptions that the speakers give, and the things they point to are just the objects that satisfy those descriptions.
- Linguistic relativism - Since everyone thinks differently from different languages, they have different ideas for the same things.

Logical atomism - There are pieces of thought that can't be divided into smaller pieces of thought.

Phenomenalism - Physical objects aren't things themselves, and are simply bundles of sensory data.

Positivism - The only true knowledge is [scientific](science.md) knowledge from sensory information.

Presuppositionalism - assuming God exists, understanding comes through revelation and not through logic.

Rationalism - Reasoning can be the source of all knowledge. Opposite of empiricism.

Sensualism - Senses and perception are the most basic and important parts of understanding.

Solipsism - Only direct mental experience is certain, and there's nothing certain outside the mind. Opposite of externism.

- Transcendental idealism - Presuming idealism (see above), human experiences aren't things as they are, but are simply the things inside the mind.
- Hegelianism - Everything can be broken up into rational categories. Transcendental idealism mixed with reductionism (see above).

## How much can we know?

Critical realism - Some information we perceive represents reality outside our mind, while other information doesn't.

Deconstructionism - Everything is too impossibly complicated or unstable to determine.

- Existentialism - Deep down, all existence is a bunch of "themes" (e.g., love, freedom, etc.) that we can't further clarify or understand.
  - Christian existentialism - While we can't clarify or understand our themes, the God of the Bible can help us with them.
  - Christian existential humanism - People can make free will choices through Jesus' teachings.
- Interpretivism - Knowledge is strictly a matter of interpretation.
- Perspectivism - Since our perceptions, experience, and thoughts are relative to experience, nothing we perceive is true.

Disjunctivism - Assuming Naïve/Direct/Perceptual/Common-sense realism, our senses are wrong about some things.

Fallibilism - Absolute certainty about anything we know is impossible except logically consistent things of the mind, like [math](math.md) and [logic](logic.md).

Infinitism - Knowledge can be confirmed by an infinite chain of reasons behind it.

Intuitionism/Neointuitionism - Math is a merely a mental construct of the mind that allows people to make more elaborate calculations than anything in nature. Opposite of preintuitionism.

- Logicism - [Math](math.md) is merely an extension of [logic](logic.md), so all math can distill to logical statements ([has theoretically been proven by computers](logic.md)).

Operationalism/Operationalization - We can define values through specific observations.

Preintuitionism - Math exists in the world around us, so understanding math is to increase understanding of existing things. Opposite of intuitionism.

Relationalism - Things can only be defined in relationship to other things. Opposite of substantivalist.

Reliablism - A belief is only knowledge if it came through a reliable method.

Representationalism - People can't perceive the world directly, and instead only see their ideas or interpretations of the world.

Substantivalism - Things like space and time are entities in their own right, independent of anything else or how they're defined. Opposite of relationalism.

Tautology - A statement that's universally true.