4 Knowledge and its Limits: Epistemology here is a branch of philosophy nowadays called epistemology: the inquiry into what can be known, and how we can know it We all have many beliefs on many topics; which, if any of them, can count as real knowledge? What is the mark of genuine knowledge and how does it diVer from mere belief? Is there a reliable way to acquire knowledge of the truth to eliminate false beliefs that are mere seemings? These questions occupied the attention of Greek thinkers from an early stage T Presocratic Epistemology Parmenides might well claim to be the founder of epistemology: at least he is the Wrst philosopher to make a systematic distinction between knowledge and belief At the beginning of his great poem a goddess promises that he will learn all things, both reliable truth and the untrustworthy opinions of mortals The poem is in two parts: the way of truth and the way of seeming The way of truth sets out Parmenides’ theory of Being, which we will consider in Chapter on metaphysics The way of seeming deals with the world of the senses, the world of change and colour, the world of empty names Mortals who not accept the way of truth, sunk in metaphysical error, know nothing at all Deaf, dazed, and blind, they can be called ‘twoheaded’ because of the internal inconsistencies of their beliefs (KRS 293) A sharp contrast between reality and appearance also appears in the writing of a very diVerent philosopher, Democritus For him, atoms and