Information about Propositional Knowledge
Descriptive knowledge, also declarative knowledge or propositional knowledge, is the species of knowledge that is, by its very nature, expressed in declarative sentences or indicative propositions. This distinguishes descriptive knowledge from what is commonly known as "know-how", or procedural knowledge (the knowledge of how, and especially how best, to perform some task), and "knowing of", or knowledge by acquaintance (the knowledge of something's existence).
What is the difference between knowledge and beliefs? A belief is an internal thought or memory which exists in one's mind. Most people accept that for a belief to be knowledge it must be, at least, true and justified. The Gettier problem in philosophy is the question of whether there are any other requirements before a belief can be accepted as knowledge.
The article Knowledge (philosophy) discusses the view of philosophers on how one can tell which beliefs constitute actual knowledge.
Often knowledge is gained by combining or extending other knowledge in various ways. Isaac Newton famously wrote: "If I have seen further... it is by standing on the shoulders of giants".
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.
At this point the scientist carries out the experiment, and compares his predictions with his observations. Assuming that there were no flaws in the experiment, then if they match, this is evidence in favour of the hypothesis. If they do not match, then the hypothesis has been falsified. The next steps are peer review and publication, through which the results are distributed to other scientists.
A hypothesis that has been shown to accurately and reliably predict and characterize some physical phenomenon, and has been sufficiently peer-reviewed and tested, may become a scientific theory. Scientific theories are widely regarded as knowledge, though they are always subject to further revision or review should new data come to light.
To use scientific theories, they must be applied to the specific situation in hand. For example, a civil engineer might use the theory of statics (a branch of physics) to determine whether a bridge will hold up. This is one case where new knowledge is generated from scientific knowledge by specializing it to an individual instance.
Additionally, the scientific method is essentially the application of the inductive approach to investigation. This approach is entirely appropriate for exploration of the causal world of nature (physics, chemistry, etc.) but not valid for the teleological social sciences, which includes history. There are no constants in human relations, only unmeasurable and inconstant subjective valuations. Electrons always behave the same way under the same conditions, but humans do not -- different people seem to react differently and the same person seems to or might react differently at different moments in time. Thus, it appears that only spurious inferences can be drawn from repeated observations of human behavior. It might be observed that most humans prefer wealth to poverty or life to death, but it might be invalid to infer any universal law of human behavior from this.
Historians often generate different interpretations of the same event, even when reading the same primary sources, and these interpretations are always subject to revision by other historians. This is because, as a social scientist, the historian must constantly make subjective judgements of relevance in trying to interpret historical events.
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. Critics of cultural imperialism argue that the rise of a global monoculture causes a loss of local knowledge.
There are a number of problems that arise when defining knowledge or truth, including issues with objectivity, adequacy and limits to justification. Beliefs are also very problematic not least because they are either true or false, and therefore cannot be adequately described by conventional logic. An action likewise can be taken or not, but there is the troubling idea of an "event" is, an action taken by nobody, or nobody who you can blame.
"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." (Roger Bacon, English alchemist, astrologer, philosopher and a major progenitor of modern science.
A language is a system of symbols and the rules used to manipulate them. Language can also refer to the use of such systems as a general phenomenon.
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What is the difference between knowledge and beliefs? A belief is an internal thought or memory which exists in one's mind. Most people accept that for a belief to be knowledge it must be, at least, true and justified. The Gettier problem in philosophy is the question of whether there are any other requirements before a belief can be accepted as knowledge.
The article Knowledge (philosophy) discusses the view of philosophers on how one can tell which beliefs constitute actual knowledge.
Acquiring knowledge
People have used many methods to try to gain knowledge.- By reason and logic (perhaps in cooperation with others, using logical argument).
- By mathematical proof.
- By the scientific method.
- By the trial and error method.
- By applying an algorithm.
- By learning from experience.
- By an argument from authority, which could be from religious, literary, political, philosophical or scientific authorities.
- By listening to the testimony of witnesses.
- By observing the world in its "natural state"; seeing how the world operates without performing any experiments.
- By acquiring knowledge that is embedded in one's language, culture, or traditions.
- By dialogical enquiry (conversation). See Gadamer, Bohm, Habermas, Freire, on dialogue, learning and knowledge acquisition/negotiation: http://www.infed.org/biblio/b-dialog.htm
- By some claimed form of enlightenment following a period of meditation. (For example, the Buddhist enlightenment known as bodhi)
- By having a divine illumination or revelation from a divine agency.
Types of knowledge
Knowledge can be classified into a priori knowledge, which is obtained without needing to observe the world, and a posteriori or empirical knowledge, which is only obtained after observing the world or interacting with it in some way.Often knowledge is gained by combining or extending other knowledge in various ways. Isaac Newton famously wrote: "If I have seen further... it is by standing on the shoulders of giants".
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.
Knowledge in various disciplines
There are many different disciplines that generate beliefs that can be regarded as knowledge. They include science (which generates scientific theories), law (which generates verdicts), history (which generates history), and mathematics (which generates proofs).Knowledge in science and engineering
Scientists attempt to gain knowledge through the scientific method. In this method, scientists start by finding a phenomenon of interest, which generates questions. A scientist then picks a question of interest, and based on previous knowledge, develops a hypothesis. The scientist then designs a controlled experiment which will allows him to test the hypothesis against the real world. He then makes predictions about the outcome of the test, based on the hypothesis.At this point the scientist carries out the experiment, and compares his predictions with his observations. Assuming that there were no flaws in the experiment, then if they match, this is evidence in favour of the hypothesis. If they do not match, then the hypothesis has been falsified. The next steps are peer review and publication, through which the results are distributed to other scientists.
A hypothesis that has been shown to accurately and reliably predict and characterize some physical phenomenon, and has been sufficiently peer-reviewed and tested, may become a scientific theory. Scientific theories are widely regarded as knowledge, though they are always subject to further revision or review should new data come to light.
To use scientific theories, they must be applied to the specific situation in hand. For example, a civil engineer might use the theory of statics (a branch of physics) to determine whether a bridge will hold up. This is one case where new knowledge is generated from scientific knowledge by specializing it to an individual instance.
Knowledge in history
The scientific method does not apply to history (or related disciplines, such as archeology), because it is not possible to construct experiments to test theories. Suppose a historian believes that Napoleon would have won the Battle of Waterloo if Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher had arrived an hour later. The historian cannot simply re-run the battle and see what would happen with different starting conditions.Additionally, the scientific method is essentially the application of the inductive approach to investigation. This approach is entirely appropriate for exploration of the causal world of nature (physics, chemistry, etc.) but not valid for the teleological social sciences, which includes history. There are no constants in human relations, only unmeasurable and inconstant subjective valuations. Electrons always behave the same way under the same conditions, but humans do not -- different people seem to react differently and the same person seems to or might react differently at different moments in time. Thus, it appears that only spurious inferences can be drawn from repeated observations of human behavior. It might be observed that most humans prefer wealth to poverty or life to death, but it might be invalid to infer any universal law of human behavior from this.
Historians often generate different interpretations of the same event, even when reading the same primary sources, and these interpretations are always subject to revision by other historians. This is because, as a social scientist, the historian must constantly make subjective judgements of relevance in trying to interpret historical events.
Situated knowledge
From 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. Critics of cultural imperialism argue that the rise of a global monoculture causes a loss of local knowledge.
Issues
What constitutes knowledge, certainty and truth are controversial issues. These issues are debated by philosophers, social scientists, and historians. Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote "On Certainty" - aphorisms on these concepts - exploring relationships between knowledge and certainty. A thread of his concern has become an entire field, the philosophy of action.There are a number of problems that arise when defining knowledge or truth, including issues with objectivity, adequacy and limits to justification. Beliefs are also very problematic not least because they are either true or false, and therefore cannot be adequately described by conventional logic. An action likewise can be taken or not, but there is the troubling idea of an "event" is, an action taken by nobody, or nobody who you can blame.
Non-scientific methods
Some people hold that science does not actually tell us about the physical world in which they live. They hold that the world cannot be understood by science, but rather by religious revelations, mystical experience, or literary deconstructionism.Practical limits for obtaining knowledge
What we hold to be knowledge is often derived by a combination of reason from either traditional, authoritative, or scientific sources. Many times such knowledge is not verifiable; sometimes the process of testing is prohibitively dangerous or expensive. For instance, some physics theories about the nature of the universe, such as string-theory, require the construction of testing equipment currently beyond our technology. Since such theories are in principle subject to verification or refutation, they are scientific; since they are not proven experimentally, they are not considered certain knowledge. Rather, in such cases we have certain knowledge only of the theory, but not of what the theory describes."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." (Roger Bacon, English alchemist, astrologer, philosopher and a major progenitor of modern science.
See also
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
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Procedural knowledge is the knowledge exercised in the performance of some task. See below for the specific meaning of this term in cognitive psychology and intellectual property law.
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Belief is the psychological state in which an individual is convinced of the truth or validity of a proposition or premise (argument). Belief does not necessarily confer the ability to adequately prove one's main contention to other people, who may disagree.
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Thought or thinking is a mental process which allows beings to model the world, and so to deal with it effectively according to their goals, plans, ends and desires.
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In psychology, memory is an organism's ability to store, retain, and subsequently retrieve information. Traditional studies of memory began in the realms of philosophy, including techniques of artificially enhancing the memory.
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True is the adjectival form of truth.
True may also refer to:
In business:
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True may also refer to:
In business:
- True Corporation, a Thai communications group whose subsidiaries include True Internet, True Move and True Visions
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Justification can mean:
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- Justification (epistemology)
- Justification (jurisprudence)
- Justification (theology)
- Bibliography for theological justification
- Justification (typesetting)
- Rationalization (psychology)
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The Gettier problem is considered a problem in modern epistemology or first-order logic, issuing from counter-examples to the definition of knowledge as justified true belief, and dealing extensively with the concept of justified true belief (JTB), and the scope of the concept of
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Epistemology or theory of knowledge is the branch of philosophy that studies the nature, methods, limitations, and validity of knowledge and belief.
The term "epistemology" is based on the Greek words "
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The term "epistemology" is based on the Greek words "
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In western philosophy, reason has had a twofold history. On the one hand, it has been taken to be objective and so to be fixed and discoverable by dialectic, analysis or study.
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Logic (from Classical Greek λόγος logos; meaning word, thought, idea, argument, account, reason, or principle) is the study of the principles and criteria of valid inference and demonstration.
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Only a valid argument with true premises must have a true conclusion.
The validity of an argument depends on its form, not on the truth or falsity of its premises and conclusions. Logic seeks to discover the forms of valid arguments.
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The validity of an argument depends on its form, not on the truth or falsity of its premises and conclusions. Logic seeks to discover the forms of valid arguments.
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In mathematics, a proof is a demonstration that, assuming certain axioms, some statement is necessarily true. A proof is a logical argument, not an empirical one. That is, one must demonstrate that a proposition is true in all cases before it is considered a theorem of mathematics.
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Scientific method is a body of techniques for investigating phenomena, acquiring new knowledge, or correcting and integrating previous knowledge. It is based on gathering observable, empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning,[1]
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Trial and error, or trial by error, is a general method of problem solving for obtaining knowledge, both propositional knowledge and know-how. In the field of computer science, the method is called generate and test.
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In mathematics, computing, linguistics, and related disciplines, an algorithm is a finite list of well-defined instructions for accomplishing some task that, given an initial state, will proceed through a well-defined series of successive states, eventually terminating in an
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Experience as a general concept comprises knowledge of or skill in or observation of some thing or some event gained through involvement in or exposure to that thing or event. The history of the word experience aligns it closely with the concept of experiment.
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An appeal to authority or argument by authority is a type of argument in logic, consisting on basing the truth value of an assertion on the authority, knowledge or position of the person asserting it.
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Evidence
Part of the common law series
Types of evidence
Testimony · Documentary evidence
Physical evidence · Digital evidence
Exculpatory evidence · Scientific evidence
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Part of the common law series
Types of evidence
Testimony · Documentary evidence
Physical evidence · Digital evidence
Exculpatory evidence · Scientific evidence
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Evidence
Part of the common law series
Types of evidence
Testimony · Documentary evidence
Physical evidence · Digital evidence
Exculpatory evidence · Scientific evidence
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Part of the common law series
Types of evidence
Testimony · Documentary evidence
Physical evidence · Digital evidence
Exculpatory evidence · Scientific evidence
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Observation is an activity of a sapient or sentient living being (e.g. humans), which senses and assimilates the knowledge of a phenomenon in its framework of previous knowledge and ideas.
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See Language (journal) for the linguistics journal.
A language is a system of symbols and the rules used to manipulate them. Language can also refer to the use of such systems as a general phenomenon.
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Culture (from the Latin cultura stemming from colere, meaning "to cultivate,") generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significant importance.
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The word tradition comes from the Latin word traditio which means "to hand down" or "to hand over." It is used in a number of ways in the English language:
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- Beliefs or customs taught by one generation to the next, often orally.
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Bohm Dialogue or Bohmian Dialogue is a form of free association conducted in groups, with no predefined purpose in mind besides mutual understanding and exploration of human thought.
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Meditation describes a state of concentrated attention on some object of thought or awareness. It usually involves turning the attention inward to a single point of reference.
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Bodhi (बोधि) is the Pāli and Sanskrit word for the "awakened" or "knowing" consciousness of a fully liberated yogi, generally translated into English as "enlightenment".
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Enlightenment broadly means the acquisition of new wisdom or understanding enabling clarity of perception. However, the English word covers two concepts which can be quite distinct: religious or spiritual enlightenment (German: Erleuchtung
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Revelation is an uncovering or disclosure via communication from the divine of something that has been partially or wholly hidden or unknown, "which could not be known apart from the unveiling" (Goswiller 1987 p. 3).
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