21 Free Epistemology Books [PDF]

Looking for epistemology books in PDF? Here you'll find free books on the theory of knowledge, from beginner textbooks to research on trust, evidence and probability.

Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that asks what knowledge is and how we justify our beliefs. Plato raised the question first, and Descartes and Locke put it at the heart of modern philosophy.

Every book is free to read online or download, with no sign-up. If you're new to the subject, start with the introductions and move on to the questions that interest you most.

• Introduction to Philosophy: Epistemology

  

  The best place to start if epistemology is new to you. Eight short chapters walk through the analysis of knowledge, justification, skepticism, rationalism and empiricism, epistemic virtue, probability and social epistemology, each written for first-year students.

  Brian C. Barnett (Editor)

  Format: PDF 196 pages 3.72 MB

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• Introduction to Epistemology

  

  A complete university course on the theory of knowledge, organized in five modules: what knowledge is, its sources, rationalism and empiricism, the major theories of truth, and skepticism. Each unit ends with self-assessment questions, so it works well for self-study.

  Adekunle Ibrahim

  Format: PDF 128 pages 1.87 MB

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• Notes on Epistemology

  

  A compact course in classical epistemology from a Thomistic professor at Georgetown. In 21 short chapters it tackles certitude, universal skepticism, the Cartesian doubt, Kant, pragmatism and human testimony, defending a common-sense realism along the way.

  John J. Toohey

  Format: PDF 193 pages 0.45 MB

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• Truth and Reality: An Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge

  

  A readable introduction to the theory of knowledge by a pragmatist philosopher and student of William James. Boodin asks what makes an idea true and how our knowledge connects to reality, in short chapters that still feel lively more than a century later.

  John Elof Boodin

  Format: PDF 357 pages 22.19 MB

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• Epistemology, or The Theory of Knowledge: Volume 1

  

  The first volume of a classic scholastic introduction to epistemology. Coffey sets out the problem of knowledge, examines judgment, certitude and the case for and against skepticism, and weighs Kant and the idealists against the realist tradition.

  P. Coffey

  Format: PDF 395 pages 26.84 MB

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• Epistemology, or The Theory of Knowledge: Volume 2

  

  The second volume completes Coffey's survey with sense perception, our knowledge of the external world, and the criteria and motives of truth and certitude. A thorough guide to how the realist tradition answers the skeptic.

  P. Coffey

  Format: PDF 389 pages 26.28 MB

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• Knowledge: A Human Interest Story

  

  What does it take to know something, and why does the answer seem to change when more is at stake? Weatherson defends the view that knowledge depends on our interests and uses it to rethink evidence, belief and the famous puzzles of contemporary epistemology.

  Brian Weatherson

  Format: PDF 286 pages 15.87 MB

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• Basic Knowledge and Conditions on Knowledge

  

  A careful study of the conditions a belief must meet to count as knowledge. McBride works through basic knowledge, closure, sensitivity and safety, and shows how each answer reshapes our response to the skeptic.

  Mark McBride

  Format: PDF 240 pages 2.91 MB

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• Knowledge and the Norm of Assertion: An Essay in Philosophical Science

  

  Should you only say what you know? Turri combines philosophy with experiments on how people actually judge assertions, and makes a strong case that knowledge is the rule we follow when we tell each other things.

  John Turri

  Format: PDF 128 pages 2.7 MB

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• Psychology and the Goals of Epistemology

  

  Can findings from psychology change what counts as knowledge or justified belief? This doctoral thesis defends methodological naturalism and argues that epistemology should be judged by the goals its concepts help real people achieve.

  Katherine Puddifoot

  Format: PDF 203 pages 0.93 MB

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• The Theory of Knowledge

  

  One of the great Victorian treatises on knowledge. Hobhouse builds a realist account from the ground up, starting with what we directly apprehend and moving to inference, memory, judgment and our knowledge of an external world.

  L. T. Hobhouse

  Format: PDF 653 pages 28.67 MB

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• What Is Truth? An Essay in the Theory of Knowledge

  

  A clear, compact essay on the oldest question in epistemology. Rogers weighs the correspondence, coherence and pragmatist answers to what truth is and explains how belief can be justified without absolute certainty.

  Arthur Kenyon Rogers

  Format: PDF 202 pages 9.71 MB

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• Methods of Knowledge: An Essay in Epistemology

  

  A tour of the great theories of knowledge, from Locke and Hume to Kant and the absolute idealists, followed by Smith's own account of how sensation, feeling and will take part in knowing. A good bridge between the classics and later debates.

  Walter Smith

  Format: PDF 367 pages 11.9 MB

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• Epistemic Injustice and Violence

  

  Building on Miranda Fricker's idea of epistemic injustice, these essays explore how knowledge, power and violence are tied together, and whose voices get heard. Contributors from several continents bring in decolonial, feminist and intercultural perspectives.

  Lena Schützle, Barbara Schellhammer, Anupam Yadav, Cara-Julie Kather, Lou Thomine (eds.)

  Format: PDF 267 pages 7.37 MB

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• Understanding Social Struggles: Relating Recognition Theories and Epistemic Injustice

  

  What happens when people are not believed or not understood? This collection brings theories of recognition into dialogue with epistemic injustice, with essays on testimony, strategic ignorance, schools and even algorithmic bias.

  Hilkje C. Hänel and Fabian Schuppert (eds.)

  Format: PDF 217 pages 1.72 MB

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• The Epistemology of Rhetoric: Plato, Doxa and Post-Truth

  

  Is persuasion a way of knowing? Bengtson goes back to Plato's quarrel between opinion and knowledge to rethink the role of rhetoric, and asks what that old debate can teach us about argument in a post-truth age.

  Erik Bengtson

  Format: PDF 261 pages 1.94 MB

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• The Face-to-Face Principle: Science, Trust, Democracy and the Internet

  

  Why do we trust some sources and not others? This book argues that knowledge is built in face-to-face communities, and shows how online information, conspiracy theories and remote expertise can erode the trust that science and democracy depend on.

  Harry Collins, Robert Evans, Martin Innes, Eric B. Kennedy, Will Mason-Wilkes and John McLevey

  Format: PDF 283 pages 13.27 MB

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• Dimensions of Conspiracy: The Epistemic Standing of Conspiracy Theories

  

  When is it rational to believe a conspiracy theory? This doctoral thesis builds a framework for telling warranted suspicion apart from paranoia, looking at the concept, the evidence and the psychology behind conspiracy beliefs.

  Melina Tsapos

  Format: PDF 107 pages 4.67 MB

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• The Open Handbook of Formal Epistemology

  

  Eleven self-contained entries by leading specialists on the mathematical side of epistemology: Bayesianism, decision theory, imprecise and comparative probabilities, belief revision, ranking theory, doxastic logic and conditionals. Rigorous, free and a standard reference in the field.

  Richard Pettigrew and Jonathan Weisberg (eds.)

  Format: PDF 599 pages 2.72 MB

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• Odds & Ends: Introducing Probability & Decision with a Visual Emphasis

  

  If Bayes' theorem sounds intimidating, start here. This friendly textbook teaches probability, expected utility, Dutch books and the problem of induction through puzzles like Monty Hall and plenty of diagrams, with no math background required.

  Jonathan Weisberg

  Format: PDF 238 pages 8.75 MB

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• Topics of Thought: The Logic of Knowledge, Belief, Imagination

  

  Why doesn't knowing one thing mean you know everything it implies? Berto builds a logic of knowledge, belief and imagination that tracks what our thoughts are about, offering a fresh answer to a classic problem of formal epistemology.

  Francesco Berto

  Format: PDF 241 pages 2.12 MB

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Want more on the roots of epistemology? Our gnosiology books cover Plato's Theaetetus, Kant and the Greek skeptics.

Want to keep reading? Browse more free philosophy books in PDF.

• 

  Empiricism Books

  Experience, senses, evidence. The philosophy that knowledge comes from sensory experience.

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  Rationalism Books

  Descartes, Spinoza, innate ideas. Classic works, debates and histories of the philosophy of reason.

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  Gnosiology Books

  Knowledge, truth, inquiry. The study of the nature and limits of knowledge.

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  General Philosophy Books

  Intro textbooks, history, religion and science. Classic and modern books to help you start thinking like a philosopher.

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  Logic Books

  Reasoning, proofs, truth. The formal study of valid arguments.