Epistemology is the philosophical study of a particular kind of knowledge: rational knowledge. Often, perhaps all too often, this rational knowledge, the subject of Epistemology, is said to be all, and only, scientific knowledge, and this is certainly a legitimate position. However, there is no imperative to restrict Epistemology to scientific knowledge, for we do possess some rational knowledge—knowledge "beyond" experience—that is not ordinarily included under the rubric of 'Science'. Indeed, all the people in the world, most of whom are not scientists, claim to know many things, and Epistemology must be made to account for their knowledge, what we might call natural knowledge, as well as scientific knowledge. What Epistemology must do, then, is explain why we can say that we do know anything at all and, by this means, justify our claim to knowledge.
The most fundamental form of ratitonal knowledge is knowledge derived from personal experience; and although Epistemology certainly must account for this knowledge, this basic kind of rational knowledge is comparatively easy to handle. In contrast, the more problematic type of knowledge studied in Epistemology may be illustrated by the question "Do you know where you were born?" Everybody, obviously, was born somewhere. Moreover, everybody was present at his or her own birth. However, almost nobody remembers their own birth, and so everybody must rely on other evidence to be able to say that they know where they were born. Thus, if you can say you know where you were born, then you are saying that something other than personal experience can be used to justify this knowledge. In particular, you will rely on either the personal testimony of at least one eye-witness: your mother; or you will rely upon documentary evidence: your birth certificate or the hospital's records. Either way, you will be justifying your knowledge of where you were born by the type of evidence studied in Epistemology.
Of course, what we require of Epistemology is much more than what this simple example illustrates. For we desire not only to justify our knowledge of such simple things as where we were born, but also such high level knowledge as that provided, for example, by Physics, Chemistry, and Biology, which involves many extremely complex concepts and ideas. As the topic of Epistemology develops in these panels, which are presently under construction, we will inquire into these more complex issues.