*oxford reference online Oxford English Dictionary (OED)

Epistemology

It is a "theory of knowledge"(OED)

-our body of knowledge is to extent we can justify what we know

The branch of philosophy concerned with the nature and scope of knowledge

Some Epistemological Questions

-what is knowledge?

-how do we know what we know?

-knowledge is not equal to information

-when you claim to know something and someone else know those differently from you?

Information

-data is not neutral

-it is ranked

The role of the university

-social space

-Plato thought it as "justified true belief"

-place to deconstruct and construct knowledge

-creating transmitting and storing knowledge: research analysis, discourse, library and textbooks

-examining and critiquing knowledge: *knowledge is never "complete"

-deeply disturbing questions

-knowledge is always mediated or facilitated

-*place of conversation

 

The role of sharing in academia

-helps people examine and expand each other's knowledge

Why does critical thinking matter?

-allowing people to acknowledge situations around the world

-looking at different theories and ideologies from different perspectives

-engaging in self-reflection

Thinking critically about "knowledge"

-disassembling what we know in order to expose the biases we have

-taking what is given to us and analyzing it, questioning it

**Knowledge is information that is processed through thinking of human' mind

Two primary ways of obtaining information

Somatically: direct sensory experience

-what we experience first-hand, unmediated

Symbolically: knowledge comes to us through various external sources

-media, family, etc.

-mediated through someone or something

What we "know" is contextual: common sense