The Handbook of Jungian Psychology: Theory, Practice and Applications

by Renos K. Papadopoulos

Epistemology is the logos of episteme. The Greek logos is often translated as study, science, discipline, systematic investigation and discourse. In Greek, episteme means knowledge but, not surprisingly, it has an interesting history and a wide range of meanings; the Latin equivalent, scientia, does not seem to share this rich philosophical past. Etymologically, episteme is related to the verbs ephistemi and epistamai which mean ‘to set or place upon’ and ‘to know how’, respectively. Both verbs refer to standing over or upon (epi) implying some king of ‘over-seeing’ activity. Whereas in English to understand is signified by ‘standing under’, in Greek it is by standing over, above. The noun epistema is ‘anything set up, e.g., a monument over a grave’ (Liddell and Scott 1869: 575). Therefore, episteme could be understood as the act of marking a territory that was observed and comprehended.