Epistemology and the Shape of Truth: How Philosophy Explores Boundaries Knowledge

What does it really mean to know something? We rely on perception, memory, reason, testimony, experts, institutions, search engines, and artificial intelligence. Yet each can mislead us. Certainty is rare, disagreement is unavoidable, and even a true belief may owe more to luck than to sound judgment. *Epistemology and the Shape of Truth* explores the central questions of the philosophy of knowledge. What separates knowledge from belief? How much evidence is enough? Can we know something while admitting that we might be wrong? What should we do when experts disagree, institutions fail, or persuasive explanations connect the wrong dots? Drawing on thinkers including Aristotle, René Descartes, David Hume, Charles Sanders Peirce, William James, Ernest Sosa, Linda Zagzebski, Miranda Fricker, and many others, the book examines perception, memory, skepticism, testimony, justification, intellectual character, social knowledge, misinformation, and the ethics of belief. Classic problems such as the Gettier cases, the skeptical dream, the brain in a vat, the regress of reasons, and peer disagreement are placed alongside contemporary questions about expertise, algorithms, social media, and artificial intelligence.