(also called Criteriology or Criticism).— The philosophical study of knowledge. Some modern scholastics categorized epistemology as a division of metaphysics (sometimes referring to it as part of “defensive metaphysics”) whereas others regard it as a hybrid of psychology (in the scholastic sense) and metaphysics.  For many modern philosophers, epistemology is treated as a separate philosophical discipline, often combining elements of what was classically discussed in relation to logic, the philosophy of the soul, and metaphysics.