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Philosophy vocabulary · Epistemology

Justification

Meaning in philosophy, with examples

/ˌdʒʌstɪfɪˈkeɪʃən/nounCore term

In philosophy, justification means: The reasons or evidence that make it rational to hold a belief, or the property a belief has when it is properly supported.

In Turkish: gerekçelendirme, temellendirme, gerekçe

How it is used

Central in epistemology (epistemic justification) and in ethics (moral justification). Major debates include foundationalism versus coherentism and internalism versus externalism. The verb is justify and the adjective justified.

Example sentences

  1. What is our justification for believing that the future will resemble the past?

  2. Foundationalists think that justification must finally rest on basic beliefs.

Common collocations

  • epistemic justification
  • moral justification
  • lack justification
  • provide justification
  • beliefA mental state of taking something to be true, whether or not it really is true and whether or not you have good reasons for it.
  • knowledgeKnowing that something is the case; traditionally defined as a belief that is true and properly justified, although this definition is disputed.
  • epistemologyThe branch of philosophy that studies knowledge: what it is, how we get it, how beliefs are justified and how far our knowledge can reach.
  • inductionReasoning from observed cases to a general conclusion or a prediction, where the premises make the conclusion likely but not certain.

More terms: Epistemology

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