Knowledge

Knowledge is understanding something or being able to do something. The things we know are facts, truths or information. Obtaining knowledge is called learning. This article looks at the philosophical study of knowledge, epistemology; it then looks at how knowledge is manipulated in organizations, and at the social character of knowledge.

Definition

"Knowledge" is related to such concepts as meaning, information, instruction, communication, representation, learning and mental stimulus.

Related Topics:
Meaning - Information - Instruction - Communication - Representation - Learning - Mental stimulus

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Knowledge is distinct from simple information. Both knowledge and information consist of true statements, but knowledge is information that has a purpose or use.* Philosophers would describe this as information associated with intentionality.

Related Topics:
Information - Intentionality

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In epistemology a common definition of knowledge is that it consists of justified true belief. This definition derives from Plato's Theaetetus. It is considered to set out necessary, but not sufficient, conditions for some statement to count as knowledge.

Related Topics:
Justified - True - Belief - Plato - Theaetetus

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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.

Related Topics:
Truth - Philosopher - Social scientists - Historians - Ludwig Wittgenstein - Philosophy of action

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• Some question the requirement for "purpose or use".

Problem of justification

For most of philosophical history, "knowledge" was taken to mean a belief that was justified as true to an absolute certainty. Any less justified beliefs were called mere "probable opinion." Philosophers often define knowledge as a justified, true belief; the branch of philosophy that deals with the nature, origin and scope of knowledge is called epistemology.

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But how do we show that our beliefs are knowledge? Justification and evidence are both epistemic features of belief. They are, in other words, both qualities that indicate that the belief is true. We could try out other epistemic features in the definition of knowledge, if we wanted to. Instead of "justified true belief" or "true belief with evidence," we could say that knowledge is "rational true belief" or "warranted true belief." For our purposes, the differences between these different options don't matter. The whole point is that, to be knowledge, a belief has to have some positive epistemic feature; it can't be arbitrary or random or irrational. The Theory of justification deals with these issues in more detail.

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A problem with defining knowledge is known as the "Gettier problem". The Gettier problem arises when we give certain kinds of counterexamples to the JTB (justified true belief) definition. A counterexample is a case where the definition applies, but the word defined doesn't; or a case where the word defined applies, but the definition doesn't. Gettier counterexamples are examples where the definition, justified, true belief applies; but one nevertheless still doesn't have knowledge, so the word "knowledge" doesn't apply in that case.

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Skepticism

When scientists or philosophers ask "Is knowledge possible?", they mean to say "Am I ever sufficiently justified in believing something in order to have knowledge?" Adherents of Philosophical skepticism often say "no". Philosophical skepticism is the position which critically examines whether the knowledge and perceptions people have is true; adherents of this position hold that one can never obtain true knowledge, since justification is never certain. This is a different position from Scientific skepticism, which is the practical stance that one should not accept the veracity of claims until solid evidence is produced.

Related Topics:
Philosophical skepticism - Scientific skepticism

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