Course-4: Understanding Discipline & Subjects

2. Etymological Meaning of Philosophy:
Philosophy is derived from two Greek words
i.e Philos and Sophia
Philos means Love & Sophia means wisdom
Philosophy means Love of Wisdom,
i.e search of truth and wisdom

3. Schools of Philosophy:
Mainly there are four schools of philosophy
1) Idealism
2) Naturalism
3) Pragmatism
4) Realism
Branches of Philosophy:
1) Metaphysics (physical universe & Nature of ultimate reality)
2) Epistemology (Nature and origin of Knowledge & Truth)
3) Axiology ( Principles & Values i.e ethics and aesthetics)
4) Logic (reasoning i.e Inductive & Deductive)

4. ‘Theory of Knowledge’ has been considered as a branch of
philosophy known as Epistemology. ‘Epistemology’ comes
from the Greek word ‘episteme’ meaning knowledge and
‘logos’ meaning discourse or science. Epistemology is an
area of philosophy concerned with the nature and justification
of human knowledge.
Knowledge: Knowledge is always concerned about knowing
something. This something could be natural objects, man-
made things, events, processes, persons, their activities, their
relationships and many others. All of these and many other
‘objects’ of knowledge may, collectively, be called as
phenomena. Therefore, knowledge always refers to
comprehension of some or the other phenomenon.

5. Definitions of Knowledge:
Plato examined three definitions of knowledge that were widely in
circulation at that time. The three definitions of the knowledge are
(as given in Encyclopaedia of Philosophy):
1. Knowledge is Perception or sensation;
2. Knowledge is True belief, and
3. Knowledge is True belief accompanied by a rational
account of itself or ground.
Plato defined knowledge as, ‘justified true belief’.
John Locke defined knowledge as “the perception of the
agreement or disagreement of two ideas”.
Dewey (2010), knowledge denotes an ‘inference from evidence’.

6. Characteristics of Knowledge:
Knowledge is an awareness or understanding of some
one or some thing (facts, information , skills) which is
acquired through experience or education by
perceiving, discovering or learning
It may be a theoretical or practical
It can be implicit (Practical/expertise), explicit
Knowledge acquisition involves complex cognitive
processes like perception, communication and
reasoning

7. Thank you
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