epistemological

From epistemology +‎ -ical.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ɪˌpɪstəməˈlɒd͡ʒɪkl̩/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ɪˌpɪstəməˈlɑd͡ʒəkəl/

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• Rhymes: -ɒdʒɪkəl
• Hyphenation: epi‧stem‧o‧log‧i‧cal

epistemological (comparative more epistemological, superlative most epistemological) (philosophy)

2. Of or pertaining to epistemology or theory of knowledge, as a field of study.

   Synonyms: epistemic, epistemologic

   • 1898, E. A. Read, “Review of Vergleich der dogmatischen Systeme von R. A. Lipsius und A. Ritschl”, in The American Journal of Theology, volume 2, number 1, page 190:

     The epistemological position of Ritschl, in our author's exposition of it, is little more than idealistic rationalism.

   • 1952, D. Maurice Allan, “Towards a Natural Teleology”, in The Journal of Philosophy, volume 49, number 13, →DOI:

     In the period from Spinoza to the end of the 19th century, the reading of design into nature received such devastating attacks from naturalists to non-naturalists alike that there developed an epistemological neurosis which Von Baer aptly termed “teleophobia.”

   • 1991, Walt Wolfram, “The Linguistic Variable: Fact and Fantasy”, in American Speech, volume 66, number 1, page 31:

     My conclusion dovetails with Fasold's conclusion, which is based on a quite different, more epistemological kind of argument.

3. Synonym of epistemic (“of or relating to cognition or knowledge, its scope, or how it is acquired”)
   • 1969, Sandra B. Rosenthal, “The 'World' of C. I. Lewis”, in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research, volume 29, number 4, page 590:

     The reality which thus emerges is the outcome of the epistemological process in which the mind conceptually structures a given content.

Many philosophers consider the standard sense of epistemological to be “of or pertaining to epistemology” (sense 1) and reserve the term epistemic for the sense “of or relating to cognition or knowledge, its scope, or how it is acquired”.

• epistemological turn