Knowers and knowing: Personal and shared knowledge Theory of knowledge Knowers and knowing: Personal and shared knowledge

Introduction The pursuit of knowledge is an essentially collective enterprise However, individuals play a key role in sustaining, refining and developing culture The interaction between personal and shared knowledge can help to ensure that knowledge does not degenerate into private fantasy or mindless conformity There are five key sources of shared knowledge which come to us as « second- hand » from other people and assess their reliability

Clarifying the distinction If you were to write a « personal encyclopaedia » summarising everything that you know, how extensive do you think it would be? And how accurate? What is personal knowledge? What is shared knowledge?

What is personal knowledge? Knowledge that a particular individual has of the world Two main overlapping components: Experiential knowledge: personal acquaintance and practical know-how Second-hand knowledge: culture, school, internet, news media Second-hand knowledge has two components: Academic knowledge: understanding of academic subjects Informal knowledge: cultural and local knowledge Do you think there can be personal knowledge in the strong sense?

What is shared knowledge? Sum of knowledge that we can communicate to one another Includes academic knowledge, informal knowledge and part of practical know-how Shared knowledge can derive from individuals working alone or groups Academic knowledge is a key component of shared knowledge (areas of knowledge) Most of the things that surround us in daily life are the products of shared knowledge Shared knowledge is often shared by groups (friends, subject specialists, cultures) What do you think everyone does know? What do you think everyone should know?

Personal knowledge The majority of personal knowledge is derived second-hand from other sources Importance of being well-informed Danger of distorted picture of reality

Which of the following do you think an educated person should know without having to use the internet? The periodic table Key dates in history Mental arithmetic Correct spelling Capital cities Common fallacies Newtonian physics Great literature

Some obstacles to personal knowledge Ignorance: problem of overconfidence, illusion of explanatory depth Apathy: reluctance to change a formed opinion Fantasy: wishful thinking Bias: difficulty to spot errors and biases in our own opinions Peer pressure: false consensus effect Towards objectivity: need to subject our opinion to the critical scrutiny of others Explain the flushing mechanism of a toilet

Shared knowledge The vast majority of our knowledge is shared knowledge Shared knowledge is closely connected with language Since it comes to us « second-hand » from other people, most knowledge must be taken on trust Shared knowledge is liable to distorsion

Some dangers with shared knowledge Authority worship: claims based on authority must be validated Groupthink: form of peer pressure Power distorsions: governments and corporations’s interest in influencing our beliefs and values Fragmentation: depth vs breadth

How might powerful interest groups try to influence and distort people’s beliefs about the following: The threat of terrorism Gender roles Income distribution Global warming

The Internet Advantages: speed and accessibility Disadvantages: lack of quality control Internet can be a source of disinformation (urban legends) We sometimes judge the reliability of a website by its appearance and believe the information if it looks good

Cultural tradition The culture we grow up in has a strong influence on the way we see the world It determines our intellectual default settings We have a natural attachement to our own beliefs and practices They provide a point of reference for what we consider to be normal or reasonable Living traditions change and develop over time To progress in areas of knowledge, we need to find the right balance between respecting traditional ways of thinking and being wiling to question them

School Schools have played a key role in the transmission of knowledge Difference between education and indoctrination Difference between what is thaught and how it is taught Question things and think for yourself

Expert opinion With the explosive growth of knowledge, it is no longer possible to know everything We have to rely on expert opinion to justify many of our knowledge claims Experts are fallible and sometimes get it wrong Experts are particulary fallible when it comes to predict the future Experts have a limited range of competence

The news media The news media play a major role in shaping our picture of the world There is some bias in both the selection and the presentation of news stories Bad news: bad news bias to create a pessimistic climate of fear Extraordinary news: gradual changes that may have a significant effect on people’s lives tend to get little coverage Relevant news: news is considered as relevant if it concerns domestic citizens Who can we trust? We choose news outlets that reflect our pre-existing prejudice We should question our assumptions

Conclusion A great deal of knowledge comes to us second-hand from the authority of other people Which sources of knowledge can we trust? We need a balance between taking knowledge on authority and relying on our own resources Danger of ending up with a distorted and fantasy-ridden picture of the world

Key points The pursuit of knowledge is a collective enterprise, but individuals and groups help to refine, critique and develop the culture they inherit. Personal knowledge is acquired through personal experience (direct acqaintance and practical know-how), formal education and other second-hand sources such as the internet. An individual’s knowledge claims can be distorted by ignorance, apathy, fantasy, bias and peer pressure. Shared knowledge consists of the (justified) beliefs and practices which can be communicated verbally or non-verbally to other people. The fact that we can share our knowledge means that we can all know vastly more than if we relied purely on our own resources.

Among the dangers with shared knowledge are authority worship, groupthink, power distorsions and fragmentation. Personal and shared knowledge can discipline each other and help to ensure that knowledge does not degenerate into private fantasy or mindless conformity. Five key sources of second-hand knowledge are the internet, cultural tradition, school, expert opinion and the news media. The internet gives us unprecedented access to information, but it raises concerns about the lack of quality control, superficiality and filter bubbles. Cultures can be thought of as maps through which groups of human beings try to make sense of the world, but they change and develop overtime.

Schools play a key role in the transmission of knowledge, but they raise questions about the difference between education and indoctrination. In the modern age, we are increasingly reliant on expert opinion, but experts are fallible – particularly when it comes to predicting the future. The news media help to shape our picture of the world, but bias arises in both the selection and treatment of stories.

Assignment Compare the way that two different newspapers cover a major news story. How easy is it to distinguish between fact and opinion in order to establish the truth?