Episteme (Noun)
Meaning
The body of ideas that determine the knowledge that is intellectually certain at any particular time.
Classification
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents.
Examples
- Social constructivism challenges the traditional notion of an absolute episteme, arguing that knowledge is relative to the observer.
- Historians often study the episteme of past societies to understand the intellectual and cultural frameworks of the time.
- The scientific revolution of the 17th century marked a significant shift in the episteme of the Western world, transforming the way people understood the natural world.
- Foucault's work argues that power dynamics play a crucial role in shaping the episteme of a given era.
- In today's digital age, some philosophers worry that the rapid dissemination of information may be destabilizing our collective episteme.