epistemological

American  

[ih-pis-tuh-muh-loj-i-kuhl] / ɪˌpɪs tə məˈlɒdʒ ɪ kəl /

adjective

1. pertaining to epistemology, a branch of philosophy that investigates the origin, nature, methods, and limits of human knowledge.

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epistemological British  

/ ɪˌpɪstɪməˈlɒdʒɪkəl /

adjective

1. concerned with or arising from epistemology

2. (of a philosophical problem) requiring an account of how knowledge of the given subject could be obtained

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Other Word Forms

• epistemologically adverb

Etymology

Origin of epistemological

epistemolog(y) + -ical

Explanation

An epistemological argument is a philosophical discussion about the nature of knowledge and how you know what you know. The Greek word for "knowledge" is episteme, and epistemology is the branch of philosophy that considers how you know things — how, for instance, your senses determine what you can know about the world around you. It is an epistemological view that where truth and belief intersect, one finds knowledge. Now that's deep.

Example Sentences

It made him an epistemological rival of Kirk’s.

From Slate • Sep. 16, 2025

“Comedy and its epistemological relation to trauma theory” is the proposed dissertation topic of one of the characters in Anthony Veasna So’s new collection of essays and fiction, “Songs on Endless Repeat.”

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 4, 2023

In doing so, the group has introduced a new tool, the "dahliagram," to enable researchers to analyze and visualize a wide array of quantitative and qualitative knowledge from diverse disciplinary sources and epistemological backgrounds.

From Science Daily • Nov. 22, 2023

The epistemological and ontological nihilism of the closed cube argument frankly implodes upon itself.

From Washington Times • Jun. 14, 2023

The epistemological sloppiness that, in Western culture, characterizes references to experience before the Scientific Revolution is not a necessary characteristic of pre-scientific societies.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton