ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the western tradition, where many of our ideas about epistemology—the study of knowledge—come from. Scientific knowledge is systematic, evidence-based knowledge about the physical and natural world that is based on established physical principles. The logical positivists argued that only synthetic propositions are a legitimate subject of scientific inquiry. In the social sciences, it is equally true that all knowledge should be considered contingent, but for slightly different reasons. Social constructionists believe that knowledge is heavily influenced by social factors. The idea that knowledge is acquired by reason has been traced to certain so-called pre-Socratic philosophers; that is, philosophers who lived prior to the time of the famous Greek philosopher Socrates. The ensuing medieval period, sometimes called the Middle Ages, was a period in which there were relatively few new developments in Europe in the way people thought about knowledge and how to obtain it.
