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Topic · Philosophy

Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics

Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics is a research topic within Philosophy. Science Explorer counts 19k research works in it since 1950. 9.9% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores various aspects of epistemology, including the nature of knowledge, belief, justification, and epistemic intuitions. It delves into topics such as testimony, skepticism, truth, assertion, perception, and expertise in philosophical studies.

  • Knowledge
  • Belief
  • Justification
  • Epistemic Intuitions
  • Testimony
  • Skepticism
  • Truth
  • Assertion
  • Perception
  • Expertise
Research works
19k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.9k
per year above
Top-10% rate
9.9%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+5%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
44% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics

Which countries lead Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics research?

By volume, the United States and the United Kingdom publish the most (1.1k and 452 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 1.1k works
  2. 2 United Kingdom 452 works
  3. 3 Germany 244 works
  4. 4 China 132 works
  5. 5 Italy 127 works
  6. 6 Canada 124 works
  7. 7 Netherlands 103 works
  8. 8 Spain 91 works
  9. 9 Australia 88 works
  10. 10 France 64 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 43.8%United Kingdom: 17.8%Germany: 9.6%China: 5.2%6 others listed: 23.5%44%largest
United States1,112 · 43.8%United Kingdom452 · 17.8%Germany244 · 9.6%China132 · 5.2%6 others listed597 · 23.5%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics research?

By volume in 2022-now, University of Oxford publishes the most Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics research, followed by University of Glasgow and University of Edinburgh.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 54 works
  2. 2 University of GlasgowUnited Kingdom 39 works
  3. 3 University of EdinburghUnited Kingdom 27 works
  4. 4 University of TorontoCanada 26 works
  5. 5 University of California, IrvineUnited States 26 works
  6. 6 Princeton UniversityUnited States 25 works
  7. 7 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 24 works
  8. 8 University of LeedsUnited Kingdom 22 works
  9. 9 New York UniversityUnited States 22 works
  10. 10 University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 21 works

Who are the leading researchers in Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics include Daniel J. Kahneman, Amos Tversky and Icek Ajzen.

  1. 1 Daniel J. Kahneman United States 395k citations
  2. 2 Amos Tversky United States 327k citations
  3. 3 Icek Ajzen United States 267k citations
  4. 4 Andrei Shleifer United States 234k citations
  5. 5 David John Hunter Australia 211k citations
  6. 6 Michel Foucault France 208k citations
  7. 7 Herbert A. Simon United States 179k citations
  8. 8 Chris Frith United Kingdom 175k citations
  9. 9 Noam Chomsky United States 141k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics?

The most cited paper in Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics is "DESCARTES' ERROR: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain" (Elwin Marg, 1995), with 8,192 citations. Next come "A perspective on judgment and choice: Mapping bounded rationality." (5,582) and "Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language." (3,914).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 DESCARTES' ERROR: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain Elwin Marg · Optometry and Vision Science Nov 1995 8,192
2 A perspective on judgment and choice: Mapping bounded rationality. Daniel J. Kahneman · American Psychologist 2003 5,582
3 Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. William P. Alston, John Rogers Searle · The Philosophical Quarterly Apr 1970 3,914
4 Is Justified True Belief Knowledge? Edmund L. Gettier · Analysis Jun 1963 3,113
5 Agreeing to Disagree Robert J. Aumann · The Annals of Statistics Open access Nov 1976 2,509
All 99 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics research done?

The largest centres of Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics research in 2022-now are London (United Kingdom), Oxford (United Kingdom), New York (United States) and Toronto (Canada). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Princeton, Irvine and Glasgow.

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 LondonUnited Kingdom 59 works
  2. 2 OxfordUnited Kingdom 55 works
  3. 3 New YorkUnited States 53 works
  4. 4 TorontoCanada 43 works
  5. 5 GlasgowUnited Kingdom 40 works
  6. 6 Los AngelesUnited States 36 works
  7. 7 ParisFrance 35 works
  8. 8 ViennaAustria 32 works
  9. 9 Washington D.C.United States 31 works
  10. 10 BeijingChina 30 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. PrincetonUS · 26.2 works13×
  2. IrvineUS · 26.0 works12×
  3. GlasgowGB · 40.2 works11×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics than the world average.

See Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics on the map

Where is the best place to study Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics?

Among universities, judged by research, University of Oxford, Princeton University and University of Glasgow score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 18.93%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →University of HelsinkiUniversity of OxfordUniversity of GlasgowPrinceton University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1University of OxfordUnited Kingdom 83.718.0%12.9×54 +9.9%
2Princeton UniversityUnited States 81.115.8%19.1×25 +91.3%
3University of GlasgowUnited Kingdom 75.316.3%20.0×38 +51.1%
4University of HelsinkiFinland 71.724.3%9.2×19 +34.1%
5University of California, IrvineUnited States 69.322.3%14.0×26 +9.4%
6University of JohannesburgSouth Africa 64.015.9%11.8×21 +181.4%
7Ruhr University BochumGermany 63.622.0%10.2×12 +51.5%
8New York UniversityUnited States 62.218.7%6.7×22 -12.8%
9University of Southern CaliforniaUnited States 61.919.4%6.5×16 +27.5%
10University of ZurichSwitzerland 61.816.6%8.3×17 +11.6%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics, country by country

Is Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 5% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2024. The fastest-growing topics are Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.015% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics0.014% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Epistemology, Ethics, and Metaphysics9.8% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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