Wiktionary
n. 1 (context philosophy English) scientific knowledge; a principled system of understanding; sometimes contrasted with (term empiricism English). 2 (context specifically Ancient Greek philosophy English) know-how; compare (term techne English). 3 (context specifically Foucaultian philosophy English) The fundamental body of ideas and collective presuppositions that defines the nature and sets the bounds of what is accepted as true knowledge in a given epistemic epoch.
n. (alternative spelling of episteme English)
WordNet
n. the body of ideas that determine intellectually certain knowledge at any particular time
Wikipedia
Episteme means knowledge, as in " justified true belief" in the terminology of the philosopher Plato. It is etymologically derived from the Ancient Greek word ἐπιστήμη for knowledge or science, which comes from the verb ἐπίσταμαι, "to know". Episteme as knowledge contrasts doxa, Plato's term for common belief or opinion. Episteme is distinguished from techne, which is knowledge in an applied way as in a craft. The word epistemology, means the study of knowledge, and is derived from episteme.
Usage examples of "episteme".
Foucault, in his archaeological period, outdid them both, situating the both of them (structuralism and hermeneutics) in an episteme (later, dispositif) that itself was the cause and context of the type of people that would even want to do hermeneutics and structuralism in the first place.