- (in the works of 20th-century philosopher Foucault) the set of ideas and assumptions, often unconscious, that underlie and constrain what is accepted as knowledge in a particular period: Technology or social revolution creates a new episteme that then shapes the nature of scientific and social enterprise.
- any organized or scientific system of knowledge based on a set of explicit principles; paradigm: The project explores the formation and operation of the episteme of patent law as currently practiced by lawyers.
