Epistemology

Definition: The study of the source, limits, and nature of knowledge or rational belief.

Historical Dynamic: Rationalism versus Empiricism

Rationalism

The doctrine that knowledge first and foremost orginates in reason or reflection.

Takes reasoning as the paradigm of belief formation (though does not deny a role for perception).

Empiricism

The doctrine that knowledge first and foremost originates in the senses.

Tends to deny innate ideas.

Takes perception as the paradigm of belief formation (though does not deny a role for reasoning).

And therefore seems subject to skepticism.

Metaphysics

Definition: The study of what is. More specifically, the study of very general properties or conditions of existence for entities or processes.

Historical Dynamic: Dualism versus Monism

Dualism

The doctrine that 'what is' is divided into two.

Typically minds/ideas and material substance.

Monism

The doctrine that 'what is' is singular and (metaphysically) uniform.

Idealism

The doctrine that all that is is minds/ideas.

Materialism (sometimes called physicalism, though these have been distinguished in the 20th c.).

The doctrine that all that is is matter.