Word of the Day

: March 18, 2016

epistemic

adjective ep-uh-STEE-mik

What It Means

: of or relating to knowledge or knowing : cognitive

epistemic in Context

Professor Rich is convinced that the quest for epistemic certainty is a foolhardy one.

"The ­Internet-enabled news-cum-entertainment industry stokes political resentments even as it creates epistemic anarchy." — Adrian Wooldridge, The New York Times, 24 Jan. 2016

Did You Know?

Epistemic has shifted from the arcane worlds of philosophy, linguistics, and rhetoric to the practical realms of business and marketing; for example, a 2007 Letter to Shareholders from the asset management firm Legg Mason referred to investors who "have a high epistemic threshold and do exhaustive analysis to create near certainty, or at least very high conviction, about their investments." Wherever it is used, epistemic traces back to the knowledge of the Greeks. It comes from epistēmē, Greek for "knowledge." That Greek word is from the verb epistanai, meaning "to know or understand," a word formed from the prefix epi- (meaning "upon" or "attached to") and histanai (meaning "to cause to stand"). The study of the nature and grounds of knowledge is called epistemology, and one who engages in such study is an epistemologist.