James Frederick Ferrier (16 June 1808 – 11 June 1864) was a Scottish metaphysical writer and philosopher. He introduced the word epistemology in philosophical English,[1] as well as coining agnoiology for the study of ignorance.[2]
^"Epistemology". Oxford English Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. 2014. The word is used for the first time in his book, Institutes of Metaphysics, where he also distinguishes it from ontology, and states: "This section of the science is properly termed the epistemology - the doctrine or theory of knowing, just as ontology is the doctrine or theory of being." See Third Edition, Edinburgh: William Blackwood, 1875, Introduction, §55, p. 48. See also Epistemology#Etymology.
^"Agnoiology". Encyclopaedia Britannica. Vol. 1 (14 ed.). 1930. p. 351. See also Institutes of Metaphysics Section II: THE AGNOIOLOGY, OR THEORY OF IGNORANCE, p. 405f.