Applied Minimalist Epistemology (AME): Improving Upon Three Copntributions to the Dual Epistemological Problem

摘要

Even though major efforts have been spent to solve the problem of certainty and the problem of demarcation, which together constitute the dual epistemological problem, a number of difficulties seem to pervade. The paper summarises some of the major ones on the basis of three major contributions. They are: Plato's as the first post-Socratic contribution that did not invoke the divine as a guarantor or source of certainty, Descartes' as the first contribution that brought the problem of certainty to a first person basis, and Popper's as the first falsificationist contribution to the problem of demarcation. An attempt is made to solve the difficulties through two reformulations, yielding two postulates and four puzzles. Together they define what is called an Applied Minimalist Epistemology ()AME).