Knowledge
From Wikinfo
See also Knowledge according to Wikipedia, Knowledge by Terry Olsen and Knowledge by Fred Bauder
Knowledge includes, hypotheses, concepts, theories, and principles. A recognized procedure which leads to a reasonable degree of certainty, such as the scientific procedure, is also considered to be knowledge.
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Knowledge pertains to reality
Knowledge consists of beliefs about reality. One way of deriving and verifying knowledge is from tradition or from generally recognized authorities of the past, such as Aristotle. Knowledge may also be based upon the pronouncements of secular or religious authority such as the state or the church. A second way to derive knowledge is by observation and experiment: the scientific method. Knowledge may also be derived by reason from either traditional, authoritative, or scientific sources or a combination of them and may or may not be verified by resort to observation and testing.
Knowledge may be factual or inferential. Factual knowledge is based on direct observation. It is still not free of uncertainty, as errors of observation or interpretation may occur, and any sense can be deceived by illusions. Inferential knowledge is based on reasoning from facts or from other inferential knowledge such as a theory. Such knowledge may or may not be verifiable by observation or testing. For example, all knowledge of the atom is inferential knowledge. The distinction between factual knowledge and inferential knowledge has been explored by the discipline of general semantics.
Bacon's contribution to western science
Roger Bacon, an English alchemist and philosopher of the high middle ages, had this to say about knowledge: "Of the three ways in which men think that they acquire knowledge of things - authority, reasoning, and experience - only the last is effective and able to bring peace to the intellect." Thus knowledge might arise from authority, logic, or experience. Earlier Divine illumination by the grace of God was contrasted by the early Christian church with knowledge gained by reason such as practiced by classical philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle. Experimental knowledge was discounted, for example, by St. Augustine.
Hubbard's contribution to useful knowledge
L. Ron Hubbard proposed that there are ways to determine how useful a piece of knowledge is. A datum (singular of data) is as useful as it aligns other data, he said. For example, "Mrs. Smith is a widow" is a datum that allows you to classify Mrs. Smith. While "Mrs. Smith has grieved since she lost her husband", allows you to understand Mrs. Smith better because you can align more data with the last statement than with the first.
Mankind's knowledge vs. personal knowledge
Knowledge has been defined as The sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered, or learned. [1] Mankind has a vast range of knowledge which has been preserved. But mankind's knowledge is of little use to a person unless they have:
- duplicated knowledge,
- comprehended what they have duplicated, and
- understood what they comprehended by using what they know.
- This results in personally useable knowledge.
In other words, knowledge is of no use to an individual unless he understands it. It is through action that knowledge becomes understood. For example, you can read about riding a bicycle and never become able to ride a bicycle.
In days past an apprenticeship was served to gain a trade. This guarenteed an aprentice would understand the knoweledge of the trade. Working with the knowledge of a trade brought understanding and resulted in useable, understood knowledge. Today schools attempt to serve this function.
