Which are the big questions posed by Epistemology and Philosophy of Science? They are, in short, the following: How do we distinguish science from other forms of thinking? What is science? How is it done? How different areas of knowledge are born, and how do they evolve?
The answer to these questions relies in two traditions: the French historicist tradition (e.g., G. Bachelard, G. Canguilhem) and the Anglo-Saxon logicist tradition (e.g., K. Popper, T. Khun). The great philosopher of the 20th century, Michel Foucault, occupies space apart from these. In fact, he inaugurates, in the sixties of the 20th century, a new approach to the analysis of knowledge, sciences and practices. As it is widely known, this philosopher dedicated a great part of his research to normativity, the formal means of control, penal law, and law in general. More recently, analytical philosophy has been showing interest in the matters of crime and justice.