Episteme
/ˌɛpɪˈstiːmi/noun
Secure knowledge, as distinct from mere opinion; in Foucault, the underlying framework that makes knowledge possible in a given period.
The Greek roots
Literally: “a standing upon”
The story of the word
Plato sets ἐπιστήμη against δόξα, opinion, and spends much of the Theaetetus failing to define it to his own satisfaction. The verb behind it means to stand upon something, which is a fair image for knowing where you are placing your weight. Foucault took the word over in Les mots et les choses in 1966, using it for the invisible rules that decide what can count as knowledge at all, and the English translation of 1970 brought that sense into the language.
- How it travelled
- Ancient Greek → French → English
- First recorded
- 20th century
Same family
In a sentence
He argued that the classical episteme could not have produced a question about evolution.
The seminar spent an hour on the line between episteme and techne.