Epistemology. What is it, and why should you care?

Hello everyone, it has been a long time since I have posted on here. I have been quite busy. I have recently graduated from University with my BA in Biochemistry and Philosophy, and also started my career in Medical Research. I will soon start my Masters in Pharmacology, but back to the topic at hand. 

Epistemology, what in the world is it? Well, it is how we actually observe and interpret the world for our understanding. We all practice epistemology, even though we do not realize it. Most people will say something along the lines of "My philosophy is ...", or "How I see it is ...". Without realizing it you are practicing epistemology. Unfortunately, many of us are very poor practitioners. I say this because whenever we interpret data, we typically subjectivize the data observed, and interpret it to be what we want it to be, thus we have "My truth is ..." as a result.

While I do not want to dismiss a personal experience being a guiding principle for people to relate to the world or society, their personal truth cannot become an objective truth by which others live in accordance. The objective nature of truth, that is to say that which is true regardless of personal input, is the metric by which we should form our lives. It is this principle that guided me in writing my final thesis for my Philosophy Seminar. It was on the Kantian metaphysics, in particular his epistemological evaluation of reality and pure reason. While some of my readers have not read nor know who Kant is, those who have read his works either hate him, or begrudgingly accept the value of his work. There is very little in between when it comes to this man. Which is why I have investigated his works, as well as that of St. Aquinas in regard to the Epistemology of Aristotle, their philosophical progenitor as it were. 

Below I have included the paper that I wrote. I hope that you find the topic intriguing, and that we all take a better look at our Epistemology and begin to live according to the objective, rather than the subjective.

Stephens, Matthew, The Epistemological Congruences Between Saint Thomas Aquinas and Herr Immanuel Kant in Aristotelean Systematic Philosophy., unpublished, (Fall 2022, Department of Philosophy at University of South Florida)