Skip to ContentGo to accessibility page
OpenStax Logo
Introduction to Philosophy

Key Terms

Introduction to PhilosophyKey Terms

Key Terms

A posteriori knowledge
knowledge gained through experience.
A priori knowledge
knowledge that can be gained prior to or independent of experience.
Coherentism
the theory that a belief is justified if it is part of a coherent system of interconnected beliefs.
Contextualism
the view that the truth of knowledge attributions depends on the context.
Epistemic injustice
injustice that arises from or is related to epistemological issues.
Epistemic peer
a person who is in an equal epistemic position as you relative to some domain.
Epistemology
the field within philosophy that focuses on questions pertaining to the nature and extent of human knowledge.
Externalism
any epistemological theory that does not solely use a subjects’ mental states to determine justification.
Foundationalism
the belief that all truth is either self-evident or derivable from some truth that is self-evident.
Gettier case
a case, usually presented as a hypothetical scenario, that acts as a counterexample to the traditional account of knowledge as justified true belief.
Global skeptic
someone who rejects the possibility of knowledge in general.
Hermeneutical injustice
a type of epistemic injustice that occurs when a society’s language and concepts cannot adequately capture the experience of people, thereby limiting understanding of their experiences.
Historical reliabilism
an epistemological theory that proposes that processes that reliably produce true beliefs confer justification on those beliefs.
Internalism
any epistemological theory that focuses solely on subjects’ mental states to determine justification.
Knowledge by acquaintance
knowledge gained from direct contact with something and not mediated by inference.
Local skeptic
someone who question the possibility of knowledge only in particular areas of study.
Procedural knowledge
knowledge of how to successfully complete a task.
Propositional knowledge
knowledge of facts that can be expressed as statements.
Skepticism
the view that some or all knowledge is impossible.
Standpoint epistemology
study of the relationship between an individual’s social status and their epistemic position.
Statement
A declarative sentence that has a truth value, meaning that it must be either true or false.
Testimonial injustice
a type of epistemic injustice that occurs when the opinions of individuals or groups are unfairly ignored or treated as untrustworthy.
PreviousNext
Order a print copy
Citation/Attribution
Reuse and redistribution of this content in digital or print format:
  • This book may not be used in the training of large language models or otherwise be ingested into large language models or generative AI offerings without OpenStax's prior written permission.
  • This book uses the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License, which means that you can reuse and modify the material only for noncommercial purposes, must attribute OpenStax, and must distribute any derivative works under the same license.
  • Any commercial printing of this textbook, including using a local or custom printer, must be approved by OpenStax, and proper citation provided.
  • OpenStax-copyrighted images, activities, assessments, and similar components of this book are subject to the same licensing – CC-BY-NC-SA. They can be used for noncommercial purposes with attribution. Commercial use requires permission.
  • Permission requests: Anyone who intends to incorporate this content (including text, images, and other components) into large language models, use it in AI offerings, use it commercially (including in print), and/or has questions about another use case is welcome to complete our reuse request form.
Attribution information
  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a noncommercial print format, then you must include on every physical page the following attribution:

    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/introduction-philosophy/pages/1-introduction

  • If you are redistributing all or part of this book in a noncommercial digital format, then for every page that includes OpenStax content, you must license the derivative work under the same CC-BY-NC-SA license as the original, and include on every digital page view the following attribution:

    Access for free at https://openstax.org/books/introduction-philosophy/pages/1-introduction

Citation information

The information below includes the information needed to generate citations in most major styles (APA, MLA, etc.); you must reformat and organize the information as needed to fit the requirements of the style. Use the information below to generate a citation. We recommend using a citation tool such as this one.

© Apr 23, 2026 OpenStax. Textbook content produced by OpenStax is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. The OpenStax name, OpenStax logo, OpenStax book covers, OpenStax CNX name, and OpenStax CNX logo, and Rice University name, and Rice University logo trademarks, or wordmarks are not subject to the Creative Commons license and may not be reproduced without the prior and express written consent of Rice University.