What is Knowledge?

if we consider different ways of using the verb “to know”, we can distinguish:

1. knowledge that … [+ a proposition/statement expressed in a sentence]
   = 'propositional knowledge'
   including:
   • “I know when the sun rises” ← “I know that the sun rises at 5.58”
   • “I know where Nairobi is” ← “I know that Nairobi is in Kenya”
     
     
2. knowledge how to … [+ a skill/activity expressed by a verb]
   
   
3. knowledge … [+ an object/place/person represented by a noun]
   = 'knowledge by acquaintance'

cf. in French: savoir v. connaitre, or in German: wissen v. kennen

BUT the different kinds of knowledge are not completely separate:

• “I know how to ride a bike” ⇒ “I know that one puts the feet on the pedals” etc.

• “I know John” (or similarly: “I know Kigali”)
  ⇒ “I know that John is a boy”
  ⇒ “I know how to make him laugh”
  etc. (– need enough information to uniquely identify him, but what that is depends)

in different areas, such as History, Science, …, even Ethics:

• “I know that …”:
  “… WW2 ended in 1945”, “… sodium is a metal”,
• “I know how to …”:
  “… analyse original sources”, “… use atomic numbers to place elements in the periodic table”,
• in the course of our education, we move from the former to the latter.

the knower's perspective:
just as what I perceive depends on where I stand,
the knowledge I can have depends on who I am, my past experiences, etc. – e.g.

• in science: different scientists can have different theories,
• in history: bias may be unavoidable.

distinguish

• personal knowledge,
  based on a person's own experience – e.g.
  • much of knowledge how to … is personal knowledge;
  • what I see, what I remember, what I feel.

• shared knowledge,
  publication + acceptance by others:
  BUT what that acceptance is based on depends on the area of knowledge – e.g.
  • in science:
    experiments must be repeatable, by others, in other places,
  • in history:
    new evidence must be credible, a new 'story'/account must make sense of the evidence.