Personal and shared knowledge Michael Lacewing

Areas of knowledge (AOK) Natural sciences Human sciences Mathematics History Arts Ethics Religious knowledge systems Indigenous knowledge systems Areas of knowledge (AOK)

Ways of knowing (WOK) Language Sense perception Reason Emotion Intuition Memory Imagination Faith Ways of knowing (WOK)

Knowledge as a map Different kinds of map Different purposes of maps Terrain Political Mapping in mathematics Different purposes of maps Equality measures Navigation Showing relations – geneaological trees Different sorts of things ‘mapped’ Physical – small, medium, large Species Theories BUT: there are better/worse maps Mistakes can be made More or less accurate Fallibilism not relativism? Knowledge as a map

Shared knowledge emerges from interaction relies on shared methods discussed, debated, developed can form part of group identity Shared knowledge

Personal knowledge Individual, unshared: various reasons, explanations ‘Know how’ gained by individual practice Only accessible to individual, e.g. own feelings Tacit, unconscious Requires first personal experience Critical note: ‘personal’ knowledge is not a single type of knowledge Personal knowledge

6 conditions on sharing knowledge Motivation to share: either shared problems with same solution or other incentive e.g. technological problem, from agriculture to computer security to ethics absence of competitive reward structure Knowledge exists in a form that can be transported over distance and time usually requires language – shared symbols so tacit and purely experiential knowledge fails Technologies for transporting knowledge exist e.g. speaking, then writing, printing press, internet 6 conditions on sharing knowledge

6 conditions on sharing knowledge Shared concepts and conventions e.g. common measurement, scientific concepts An extreme case? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qf35rYecOWk Shared methodology e.g. reading, reasoning (use of evidence), maths Shared history giving meaningfulness to question responses to and building upon past knowledge; e.g. changes in economics 6 conditions on sharing knowledge

The knowledge framework (Ch. 3) Of any area of shared knowledge, we can ask: What is its scope and applications? What concepts does it use? What role does language play? What methods does it use? How is it developed over time? We can also ask: how does shared knowledge relate to personal knowledge? (We will return to the knowledge framework when we start looking at AOKs.) The knowledge framework (Ch. 3)

One approach: it fails to meet one or more of the conditions on sharing knowledge Critical note: Can be accidentally or necessarily personal Could in principle be shared by usual means (accidentally personal) or could not be shared by usual means (necessarily personal) Different kinds of personal ‘maps, e.g. tacit, experiential, detailed procedural map (music, sport) Herbie Hancock: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzPZvKSdN7g So – now you know what Herbie Hancock did, could you do it? Personal knowledge

Failing (one of) the six criteria for sharing knowledge No shared problems/interest or no incentive for sharing (e.g. rewarded skill) Doesn’t exist in a transportable form E.g. can’t be put into language Personal practice needed No technologies for transporting knowledge Accidental or necessary? The Matrix, 46m-48m Failing (one of) the six criteria for sharing knowledge

Failing (one of) the six criteria for sharing knowledge No shared concepts or conventions Cultural distance Specialism: tea tasting No shared methods Ramanuja and mathematical dreams Religious experience? No shared history Arts? Failure to appreciate history makes personal knowledge hard to share Failing (one of) the six criteria for sharing knowledge

Features of personal knowledge Not conditions (requirements), only typical features Beliefs, memories, emotions, imagination of individual are important Rests directly on individual ways of knowing, rather than shared methods Experiential – what it ‘feels’ like; subjectivity Part of a personal perspective on the world May involve reflection on oneself or one’s experience May be procedural Practice may be important May be difficult to teach or communicate Features of personal knowledge

Interaction between personal and shared knowledge The knowledge of an individual (e.g. first discovery) can be shared through language or example. Shared knowledge made be applied to individual situation to understand personal experience. Interaction between personal and shared knowledge

In between shared and personal knowledge Is it really possible to have knowledge of a culture in which we have not been raised? Are those outside a particular religious tradition really capable of understanding its key ideas? Does there exist a neutral position from which to make judgments about competing claims from different groups with different traditions, different interests or different positions in society (e.g. gender, race)? Is some evidence or reasoning only available from particular perspectives (‘standpoint epistemology’)? Thinking about shared knowledge allows us to think about the nature of the group that does the sharing. To what extent are our familiar areas of knowledge embedded in a particular tradition or to what extent might they be bound to a particular culture? In between shared and personal knowledge

Different kinds of knowledge (Word document) Exercise