Personal and Shared Knowledge What?

Assignment Take notes in blue book: pages 41-53 Take notes on personal knowledge. What are its components? What are its limitations? Take notes on shared knowledge What are the communities of shared knowledge? What are the limitations of shared knowledge? Draw chart in back of room if it helps you

What is personal knowledge? Personal knowledge: Knowledge that a particular individual has of the world. Components: Experiential knowledge: knowledge based on personal acquaintance or practical know-how. Something you know how to do yourself, i.e. play the piano, bake a cake, play soccer, because of experience. Second-hand knowledge: knowledge acquired “second-hand” from sources such as your culture, school, the internet, and the news media. Academic knowledge: your understanding of academic subjects--the areas of knowledge-- which you have acquired from school and personal research. Informal knowledge: Your (second-hand) stock of cultural and local knowledge from random facts and trivia.

Obstacles of personal knowledge Ignorance: There is a danger in being ignorant of our own ignorance. Do we think that we actually know more than we do? Overconfidence is toxic. Illusion of explanatory depth: when someone asks you to explain how something works, but you realize that you don’t know how! You’re like, dang, I’m such an idiot! I thought I knew! Apathy: Once we form an opinion about something, we are very unlikely to change our opinions about it. We don’t like to question our “truths” and uncertainty that’s attached to it. Fantasy: When we want or believe something to be true but it’s not! Wishful thinking: a huge problem.

Obstacles of personal knowledge, con’t Bias: Bias is inescapable. We are influenced by character, culture, experience, etc. Impossible to achieve “God’s Eye” (unbiased) of truth/life Peer Pressure Our beliefs are strongly influenced by our peers; we do what is “cool” because others do. False consensus effect: when we tend to overestimate the extent to which other people think as we do and we justify our actions because of that. Towards objectivity We can be the person that doesn’t interact with anyone else Important to share ideas so we aren’t subjective, so that we don’t degenerate into private fantasy. Must collaborate.

What is shared knowledge? Shared knowledge: sum total of knowledge which we can communicate to one another. Includes: academic knowledge, informal knowledge, and part of practical know-how knowledge that we can communicate verbally or not. Key component is academic knowledge There is more to knowledge than what an uninformed individual happens to think. We should not accept blindly what we are taught, and vice versa.

Shared knowledge: components Communities of knowledge: shared only by groups Friends: groups of friends share inside jokes with one another...they find some things difficult to explain to others. Subject specialists: people who are thought of as working in “tribes”: philosophers, physicians, and photographers. Each has their own set of assumptions, language, and way of looking at things. Cultures: every culture has its own hidden assumptions and unwritten rules that may be difficult to explain to outsiders. Do you need to be born into a culture to fully understand it?

Limitations of shared knowledge Authority Worship: uncritically accepting something as true simply because an authority says it is. Groupthink: a form of peer pressure that makes everyone in the group think in the same way. Power distortions: When governments, people, or corporations have a vested interest in influencing our beliefs and values. When knowledge is distorted by power. Fragmentation: when people are so specialized in one field that they don’t know much else about anything else, thus forcing them only to see a part of the whole...a piece of the jigsaw rather than the “big picture.”

Sources of shared knowledge The internet Cultural tradition School Expert opinion The news media

Questions to consider: Choose 2 to answer: Which type of knowledge do you use more of? Which limitation do you find yourself trapped by most? Come up with an example to support how you have been trapped by this limitation. How might powerful interest groups from the Matrix try to influence and distort people’s beliefs about the following: The threat of terrorism Gender roles What is “cool” Global warming Theory of evolution What “sacred cows”--beliefs you are not supposed to question--exist in your Matrix? Should you be willing to question everything, or are some things beyond questioning?