Wow! Talking about jumping in deep quickly! One of the many comments on the last post was the following:
This brings up the question: how do we, collectively, define true knowledge? Is it knowing how people feel, what people think, or why people do things? Is it a perfect understanding of another's mannerisms or history? Is it any combination of the above, or is it all of them? "True knowledge" seems an inherently vague concept- which is odd, as it seems to imply utter clarity.
How do we define knowledge? How do you define knowledge? The question originally asked about a collective definition? Can there be competing or individual definitions of knowledge, or does the question itself require there to be a common, collective, universal definition in the way that there must be a common, collective, universal definition of a triangle?
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I don't believe we necessarily require a universal, utterly accepted definition of knowledge. As things stand, so much is subjective and based on our personal experiences that such a thing would be incredibly incredibly complex to agree upon, what with the sheer number of us humans crawling about.
However, for the purposes of our class, I think it might be prudent to establish a single definition of the concept of knowledge for in class discussion. It seems like it would be quite difficult to learn how we learn things if we can never settle on a specific meaning of what it is to learn things.
On the other hand, a singular definition, no matter how vague, might constrict our discussions- what do you guys think?
I don't think we should a establish a single definition for the concept of knowledge, because well we all think differently and we probably wont be able to come up with one definition of knowledge. Knowledge is such an abstract word, it would be too hard for people to completely agree to what it means. This is where your first point comes in with the personal experiences and what not.
We could try to come up with a definition for knowledge but i feel like it would be a pretty long and complex.
I agree with your point on learning though. it took me an incredibly long time to read it cause it confused me :) haha
I agree with Noelle but also the definition of knowledge can't be pinpointed given that it is never the exact same in any given situation.
"The body of truths or facts accumulated in the course of time."
"The sum or range of what has been perceived, discovered, or learned."
Above are definitions of "knowledge" from two different dictionaries, that in my opinion, support the idea that there isn't one definition of the word. The first definition implies that knowledge is clear-cut and indisputable fact whereas the second states that knowledge is human perception gained by experience.
on the other hand, there is an archaic definition of "knowledge" that is completely different from our relatively broad understanding of the word.....
To understand the mening of the word knowledge, one must first analyze the context which it is used. For example, when someone asks you a question and you provide an answer, you are giving that person your knowledge of the subject which is being asked about; whereas if someone is asking if you are "smart", you would asses the entirety of your knowledge.
These two different situations show the ambiguity of the word knowledge and how it is not the word, but the situation that it is used in that determines its meaning.
This general ambiguity of the word raises the question, "Why is the word knowledge so unclear in its meaning"?
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