Immanuel Kant (1724–1804)

Is the central figure in modern philosophy. He synthesized early modern rationalism and empiricism, set the terms for much of nineteenth and twentieth century philosophy, and continues to exercise a significant influence today in metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, political philosophy, aesthetics, and other fields. The fundamental idea of Kant's “critical philosophy”. 

He argues that the human understanding is the source of the general laws of nature that structure all our experience; and that human reason gives itself the moral law, which is our basis for belief in God, freedom, and immortality. Therefore, scientific knowledge, morality, and religious belief are mutually consistent and secure because they all rest on the same foundation of human autonomy, which is also the final end of nature according to the teleological worldview of reflecting judgment that Kant introduces to unify the theoretical and practical parts of his philosophical system.

Leibniz (1646 - 1716)

German philosopher, mathematician, historian and jurist, contemporary of Newton (1642-1727), with whom he feuded bitterly over the invention of calculus. Although Gottfried Leibniz left behind no philosophical magnum opus, he is still considered to be among the giant thinkers of the 17th-century. Leibniz believed in "pre-established harmony" between the outer world and maind, and developed a philosophy of Rationalism by which he attempted to reconcile the existence of matter with the existence of God. Bertrand Russel wrote that Leibniz's intellect "was highly abstract and logical; his greatest claim to fame is as an inventor of the infinitesimal calculus

Leibniz's reflections on epistemological matters do not rival his reflections on logic, metaphysics, divine justice, and natural philosophy in terms of quantity. Nevertheless, he did think deeply about the possibility and nature of human knowledge, and his main doctrines 

Plato (427—347 BCE)

Plato is one of the world’s best known and most widely read and studied philosophers. He was the student of Socrates and the teacher ofAristotle, and he wrote in the middle of the fourth century B.C.E. in ancient Greece. Though influenced primarily by Socrates, to the extent that Socrates is usually the main character in many of Plato’s writings, he was also influenced by Heraclitus, Parmenides, and the Pythagoreans. 

Platonic epistemology holds that knowledge is innate, so that learning is the development of ideas buried deep in the soul, often under the midwife-like guidance of an interrogator. Plato believed that each soul existed before birth with "The Form of the Good" and a perfect knowledge of everything. Thus, when something is "learned" it is actually just "recalled."

Epistemology - Subtopics

1. Accessibilism : The position that whether someone's belief is justified supervenes only on facts to which that person has some sort of access.
2. Epistemic injustice: Principle that when one is not believed for prejudicial reasons one is wronged epistemically. Primarily advanced by British philosopher Miranda Fricker.
3. Internalism and externalism: Names of two contrasting theories in several areas of philosophy, Internalism has a variety of different meanings within philosophy, and for each of these meanings there is a corresponding externalist position which is just the denial of the internalist one.
4. Knowledge: On one common account by philosophers, justified, true belief; often used in a looser way by everyone else to mean any truth or belief, and also a whole body of truth or a whole system of belief.
5. Mentalism : The position that whether someone's belief is justified supervenes only on their mental states.
6. Philosophical skepticism: Rejection of the possibility of knowledge.
7. Rating raw intelligence: The process, before intelligence analysis, in which intelligence collection managers rate individual items of "raw" collected data for plausibility and reliability
8. Reliabilism : The theory that a belief is justified, or a true belief is known, if it is the product of a reliable process.

Epistemology