Epistemologists - Practical Applications

Practical Applications

Far from being purely academic, the study of epistemology is useful for a great many applications. It is particularly commonly employed in issues of law where proof of guilt or innocence may be required, or when it must be determined whether a person knew a particular fact before taking a specific action (e.g., whether an action was premeditated). Another practical application is to the design of user interfaces. For example, the skills, rules, and knowledge taxonomy of human behavior has been used by designers to develop systems that are compatible with multiple "ways of knowing": abstract analytic reasoning, experience-based 'gut feelings', and 'craft' sensorimotor skills.

Other common applications of epistemology include:

  • Education Theory
  • Education Technology
  • Artificial intelligence
  • Cognitive science
  • Cultural anthropology (do different cultures have different systems of knowledge?)
  • History and archaeology
  • Intelligence (information) gathering
  • Knowledge management
  • Mathematics and science
  • Medicine (diagnosis of disease)
  • Neurology
  • Behavioral neuroscience
  • Product testing (how can we know that the product will not fail?)
  • Psychology
  • Philosophy
  • Linguistics
  • Logic
  • Literature
  • Theology and apologetics
  • Sociology
  • Testimony

Read more about this topic:  Epistemologists

Famous quotes containing the word practical:

    “The English masses are lovable: they are kind, decent, tolerant, practical and not stupid. The tragedy is that there are too many of them, and that they are aimless, having outgrown the servile functions for which they were encouraged to multiply. One day these huge crowds will have to seize power because there will be nothing else for them to do, and yet they neither demand power nor are ready to make use of it; they will learn only to be bored in a new way.”
    —Cyril Connolly (1903–1974)