Kinds of Knowledge

Activity

Look at the list of knowledge claims given you on the sheet.

With your neighbour(s) attempt to classify the claims into

whatever categories you can think of.

Can we agree on a set of categories?

What distinguishes each of the categories?

Personal or Shared Knowledge?

How may of our claims were personal?

How many were of shared knowledge?

Were any both shared and personal?

Kinds of knowledge (Savoir ou connaître?)

Je connais Londres

Conosco Maria

Conozco este poema de memoria

Je sais que je vais mourir

So che porto una camicia azzurra

Sé cómo resolver este problema matemático

Kinds of knowledge (one possible distinction)Knowledge claims

I know that ........Experiential Knowledge

Experience + Reflection = KnowledgeSkills

I know how to ................

Some limitations of experience◦Is being told about something the same as seeing it yourself?

◦What kind of support is required to be able to call what you have experienced ‘knowledge’?

◦Do people ‘learn from their experience’?

How shall I talk of the sea to the frog

If it has never left its pond?

How shall I talk of the frost to the bird of the

Summerland

If it has never left the land of its birth?

How shall I talk of life to the sage

If he is prisoner of his doctrine? Chuang Tze (or Zhuangzi)

4th Century BC

I know that (that atoms have protons and electrons)

◦ Shared or personal knowledge?

◦ How do you know? Is it experiential?

◦ What processes were used to arrive at the claim?

◦ Is it true?

I know that (Columbus discovered America in 1492)

◦ How do you know this? Through experience?

◦ What evidence is there for it?

◦ Would everyone agree on the word ‘discovered’?

◦ What does this tell us about the nature of evidence in history?

◦ What does this tell us about perspectives in history?

I know that (chocolate brownies are delicious)

◦ Personal or shared knowledge?

◦ Is this (always) true?

◦ Does everyone agree?

◦ Can everyone agree?

Knowing that (God exists)

oIs this knowledge or belief?

oIs it experiential?

oIs it personal or shared?

oWhat justification is required for such a claim?

oCan such a claim be tested?

I know that (the sun will rise tomomorrow)

◦ Can you be sure?

◦ How much observational evidence (experience) is required for

such a statement to be well founded?

◦ If a general pattern has been observed in the past, can we

predict the future with certainty?

I know how (to boil an egg)

◦ What do we mean by knowing how to boil an egg?

◦ Does everyone know how to boil an egg?

◦ How do we learn to boil an egg?

◦ Is it merely ‘information’ or is it a skill? (What might be the

difference?)