Epistemé is a Greek word for knowledge.
The term was proposed by Michel Foucault and widely used to denote the subsurface, often hidden foundations on which the message or statement that is accepted as knowledge during a certain period of human history is built.
In the Middle Ages, theology was considered the highest form of knowledge (the “queen of science”), while today, in most circles, it is not considered knowledge at all. The reason is that there are twists and turns from one epistemé to another.
What is considered Scientia (knowledge) in the Middle Ages is quite different from what is the definition of knowledge today. The basics have turned.
In Les Mot et Les Choses (1966), Michel Foucault explores three different periods (Renaissance, Enlightenment, and the period from the nineteenth century to modern structuralism) in the light of his idea of the epistemé. At the time, he argued that “in every given culture, in every given time, there is always only one epistemé, which defines the conditions for the possibilities of all knowledge” (1966, 168).
He later denied that his idea of the episteme was a “basic” or “fundamental” category for interpreting history, and thus ceased to use that idea. But texts and ideas have a life of their own so that anyone can take up the idea of the epistemé, especially thinkers who have been influenced directly or indirectly by Foucault.
Related:
