Warning: mkdir() [
function.mkdir]: Permission denied in
/home/webs/affiliatelib2/CacheManager.php on line
12
Warning: mkdir() [
function.mkdir]: No such file or directory in
/home/webs/affiliatelib2/CacheManager.php on line
12
Warning: fopen(/home/templatecore2cache//*cluesnet.com/8c/8c505863ed13c0fb80c5361c3fbe45cba76c3dca.tc2cache) [
function.fopen]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in
/home/webs/affiliatelib2/CacheManager.php on line
130
Warning: fwrite(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in
/home/webs/affiliatelib2/CacheManager.php on line
131
Warning: fclose(): supplied argument is not a valid stream resource in
/home/webs/affiliatelib2/CacheManager.php on line
132
Επιστημη, Episteme) in Celsus Library in
Ephesus, Turkey.
Knowledge is defined (
Oxford English Dictionary) variously as (i) expertise, and skills acquired by a person through experience or
education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject, (ii) what is known in a particular field or in total; facts and information or (iii) awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation. Philosophical debates in general start with Plato's formulation of knowledge as "justified true belief". There is however no single agreed definition of knowledge presently, nor any prospect of one, and there remain numerous competing theories.
Knowledge acquisition involves complex cognitive processes: perception, learning, communication, association and reasoning. The term
knowledge is also used to mean the confident understanding of a subject with the ability to use it for a specific purpose.
Defining knowledge
{{cquote2|We suppose ourselves to possess unqualified scientific knowledge of a thing, as opposed to knowing it in the accidental way in which the sophist knows, when we think that we know the cause on which the fact depends, as the cause of that fact and of no other, and, further, that the fact could not be other than it is. Now that scientific knowing is something of this sort is evident — witness both those who falsely claim it and those who actually possess it, since the former merely imagine themselves to be, while the latter are also actually, in the condition described. Consequently the proper object of unqualified scientific knowledge is something which cannot be other than it is.|Aristotle (Book 1 Part 2)-->
The definition of knowledge is a matter of on-going [debate among philosophers. The classical definition is found in, but not ultimately endorsed by, Plato.In Plato's
Theaetetus (dialogue), Socrates and Theaetetus discuss three definitions of
knowledge: knowledge as nothing but perception, knowledge as true judgment, and, finally, knowledge as a true judgment with an account. Each of these definitions are shown to be unsatisfactory., has it that in order for there to be knowledge
at least three criteria must be fulfilled; that in order to count as knowledge, a statement must be
theory of justification, truth, and
belief. Some claim that these conditions are not sufficient, as Gettier case examples allegedly demonstrate. There are a number of alternatives proposed, including Robert Nozick's arguments for a requirement that knowledge 'tracks the truth' and
Simon Blackburn additional requirement that we do not want to say that those who meet any of these conditions 'through a defect, flaw, or failure' have knowledge.
Richard Kirkham suggests that our definition of knowledge requires that the believer's evidence is such that it
logically necessitates the truth of the belief.
In contrast to this approach, Ludwig Wittgenstein observed, following Moore's paradox, that one can say "He believes it, but it isn't so", but not "He knows it, but it isn't so".
Ludwig Wittgenstein,
On Certainty, remark 42 He goes on to argue that these do not correspond to distinct mental states, but rather to distinct ways of talking about conviction. What is different here is not the mental state of the speaker, but the activity in which they are engaged. For example, on this account, to
know that the kettle is boiling is not to be in a particular state of mind, but to perform a particular task with the statement that the kettle is boiling. Wittgenstein sought to bypass the difficulty of definition by looking to the way "knowledge" is used in natural languages. He saw knowledge as a case of a
family resemblance.
Reliable Knowledge
In
An Introduction to Logic and Scientific Method (1934), Morris R. Cohen and Ernest Nagel reviewed the pursuit of truth as determined by logical considerations. They reviewed ways of eliminating doubt and arriving at stable beliefs or reliable knowledge, such as
- The method of authority
- The method of intuition
- The methods of experimental inquiry:
- Types of invariant relations
- The experimental method in general
- The method of agreement
- The method of difference
- The joint method of agreement and difference
- The method of concomitant variation
- The doctrine of the uniformity of nature
- The plurality of causes
Their final conclusion was, "Scientific method we declare as the most assured technique man has yet devised for controlling the flux of things and establishing stable beliefs."
In an essay entitled "Inductive Method and Scientific Discovery," Marcello Pera said, "In the first place, the
scientific method is a
procedure, a general strategy that indicates an ordered sequence of moves (or steps) which the scientist has to make (or go through) in order to reach the goal of his research." (In
On Scientific Discovery, edited by Grmek, Cohen, and Cimino , published in the Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science Series.) The scientific method is not a method directly applied, but rather a guide to the mental activity stages of originating, refining, extending, and applying knowledge. It is subject neutral and flexible in use; it is thus suitable for all domains.
Statements about truth must be viewed skeptically. Rather than state something as "true," the following phrase should be used: "On the evidence available today the balance of probability favors the view that..." (V. Gordon Childe,
Man Makes Himself, 1936)
The literature contains hundreds of formulas for the scientific method. They are basically the same but differ in length and terminology. In an article "Suggestions for Teaching the Scientific Method" published in the March 1961 issue of
American Biology Teacher, Dr. Kenneth B.M. Crooks suggested this one:
Curiosity
Is there a problem?
Get the evidence
Attributes needed
Weigh all evidence
Make the educated guess (hypothesis)
Challenge the hypothesis
Get a conclusion
Suspend judgment
Deductive reasoning
Communicating knowledge
Symbolic representations can be used to indicate meaning and can be thought of as a dynamic process. Hence the transfer of the symbolic representation can be viewed as one :wikt:ascription process whereby knowledge can be transferred. Other forms of communication include imitation, narrative exchange along with a range of other methods. There is no complete theory of knowledge transfer or communication.
Situated knowledge
Situated knowledge is knowledge specific to a particular situation. Imagine two very similar breeds of mushroom, which grow on either side of a mountain, one nutritious, one poisonous. Relying on knowledge from one side of an ecological boundary, after crossing to the other, may lead to starving rather than eating perfectly healthy food near at hand, or to poisoning oneself by mistake.
Some methods of generating knowledge, such as trial and error, or learning from
experience, tend to create highly situational knowledge. One of the main benefits of the scientific method is that the theories it generates are much less situational than knowledge gained by other methods.Situational knowledge is often embedded in language, culture, or traditions.
Knowledge generated through experience is called knowledge "a posteriori", meaning afterwards. The pure existence of a term like "a posteriori" means this also has a counterpart. In this case that is knowledge "a priori", meaning before. The knowledge prior to any experience means that there are certain "assumptions" that one takes for granted. For example if one is being told about a
chair it is clear to him that the chair is in
space, that it is
three dimensional space. This knowledge is not knowledge that one can "forget", even someone suffering from amnesia experiences the world in 3D. See also:
A priori and a posteriori (philosophy).
Partial knowledge
One discipline of epistemology focusses on partial knowledge. In most realistic cases, it is not possible to have an exhaustive understanding of an information domain, so then we have to live with the fact that our knowledge is always
not complete, that is, partial. Most real problems have to be solved by taking advantage of a partial understanding of the problem context and problem data. That is very different from the typical simple math problems that we solve at school, where all data are given and we have a perfect understanding of formulas necessary to solve them.
Knowledge management
Knowledge management is a management
theory which emerged in the 1990s. It seeks to understand the way in which knowledge is created, used and shared within organizations. A significant part of Knowledge Management theory and practice aligns two models: (i) the
DIKW model, which places data, information, knowledge and
wisdom into an increasingly useful pyramid. (ii) Nonaka's reformulation of Michael Polanyi distinction between
tacit knowledge and
explicit knowledge. Both of these models are increasingly under challenge with different schools of thought emerging which are more fully described and referenced in the main article.
An objective of mainstream knowledge management is to ensure that the
right information is delivered to the
right person just in time, in order to take the most appropriate decision. In that sense, knowledge management is not interested in managing knowledge
per se, but to relate knowledge and its usage. This leads to Organizational Memory Systems. More recent developments have focused on managing networks (the flow of knowledge rather than knowledge itself) and narrative forms of knowledge exchange.
Religious meaning of knowledge
In Catholicism and Anglicanism, knowledge is one of the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit{{cite web] Knowledge is represented by the tree of knowledge. See: Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil
Notes
See also
External links
- World Knowledge Dialogue Symposium - An initiative to bridge the gap between the natural and the human/social sciences.
- Theory of Knowledge: The Gettier problem
- Knowledge@Wharton - aimed to offer free access to course materials for students, teachers, and self-learners.
- The Duality of Knowledge
- Philosophy of Knowledge Glossary
- Communication technology and the evolution of knowledge: From pre-history to the information age
- Cybernetics & Human Knowing - A Journal of Second-Order Cybernetics, Autopoiesis & Cyber-Semiotics
- The Incommensurability of Scientific and Poetic Knowledge
- Knowledge for Development Program - World Bank Institute
- A book on (relevant) Knowledge Authors: T. L. Kunii, C. V. Ramamoorthy, Hugh Ching & Ta-You Wu; Three Chapters: Money, Health, and Happiness; Published by Complete Automation Laboratory (2007)
knowledge . com ™
Directory using ODP data with related news for each category.
The Knowledge Online: The definitive UK source of contacts within the ...
Searchable film, tv, and video production global database. Includes CD sales for off line searches.
the knowledge.com ™ directory
The knowledge.com directory with links and news. ... Knowledge: Welcome to the knowledge.com ™ Internet directory... because Knowledge Matters.
Knowledge IT
Information Technology solutions. Includes details about technical services, training, facility hire, vacancies and contact details. Online retail price guide available.
Knowledge IT :: Contact
Knowledge on-line, web site of Knowledge Business Systems a premium IT solutions provider with 10 years networking experience based in the North of England
knowledge from FOLDOC
knowledge < artificial intelligence, information science > The objects, concepts and relationships that are assumed to exist in some area of interest.
Knowledge Computing: Professional web design and UK website management ...
Offers bespoke web design, hosting and lists of domain names for sale.
The Knowledge | Transport for London
The Knowledge. As a licensed taxi driver in the Capital you must have a detailed knowledge of roads and places of interest in London - known as the Knowledge.
The Knowledge.Net The online guide to the Knowledge of London
The Knowledge.Net.... The Premier Knowledge of London website.. ... Welcome to the New Knowledge of London website www.the-knowledge.net. About The Knowledge
theknowledge taxiknowledge london taxis black cabs and taxi carriage ...
taxiknowledge black cab and taxi offers runs points for knowledge of london to get green badge memorials wizann wizann blue plaques embassies and embassys for black cabs and ...