EPISTEMOLOGIA. — Etymologically (ἐπιστήμη = science and λόγος = discourse), it signifies the doctrine of science. In current usage, however, the meaning of the term has not yet been universally established. By some, in a rather general sense, e. is identified with logic (H. Cohen, E. Husserl, Rabier). English terminology, on the other hand, commonly identifies it with gnoseology or the theory of knowledge. For this meaning V. CONOSCENZA. In the restricted and proper sense, which is also the most common in Italian, e. designates the philosophy of science, that is, the critical study of the principles, methods, and results of the sciences, with the aim of establishing their logical foundations and determining their specific value of objectivity with regard to knowledge of reality.
As such, e. is divided into general epistemology (determination of the nature of science in general, classification of the sciences, and general methodology) and special epistemology, whose object is the investigation of the nature, principles, and methods of the individual classes of sciences.
E. may therefore be regarded as a determination and application of logic to the particular field of human knowledge constituted by scientific learning. It is also intimately connected with the theory of knowledge, insofar as it cannot dispense with the general gnoseological principles concerning the value of knowledge; while at the same time it confirms and extends them through particular investigations into the meaning of scientific knowledge. E., in the sense indicated, has undergone particular development in philosophy, chiefly in recent decades, in relation to the new developments and conceptions emerging in the sciences in general, and especially in the mathematical and physical sciences. In Italy, particular studies have been devoted to it by A. Pastore and F. Enriquez (v. SCIENZA).