Topics Knowledge

Question Can facts tell us everything we need to know about the world? What else is there to know besides facts?

Accepted:
July 3, 2011

Comments

Epistemologists sometimes distinguish between different kinds of knowledge, and then they debate whether all of these kinds really are different, or whether they can (some or all) be reduced to a single kind. The kind of knowledge you seem to have in mind is generally called "propositional" knowledge (where what is known is a proposition, such as 'the cat is on the mat' which you would probably count as a fact). Our cognitions of facts may have propositional content (this is sometimes also debated), or perhaps our cognitions of such things may be encoded in a different way--such as with a visual image, map, or blueprint, etc.) So some epistemologists prefer to talk about "informational" knowledge, rather than propositional knowledge, because perhaps the information that is known is not encoded propositionally. But anyway, I assume it is this sort of knowledge that you have in mind.

But I also think there are other kinds of knowledge that might be distinguished from "factual" knowledge. Here is one that has received lots of attention lately (though mostly from people in the philosophy of mind, rather than epistemology): Think about what it is like to have a headache. You know what that is like--but it what you know a fact? Well, it doesn't seem to be a proposition, or even propositionalizable. ("Having a headache is like ___.") Is it information? Well, perhaps, but the "encoding" involved seems to consist in having had the experience itself. If you have never actually had a headache, you won't know what it is like, and once you have had a headache, you will, and for that very reason. To have a headache is to know what it is like, and to know what it is like is to have had one. This doesn't quite look the same as other kinds of "factual knowledge." (By the way, there is an interesting conundrum that followwss from this sort of thought about God's alleged omniscience--Does God know what it is like to have a sinful desire? Hmmmm....)

Here's another: Do you know how to swim, ride a bike, change a tire? Most adults do. Isn't that a kind of knowledge? Seems so. But is it factual? Doesn't seem so--I could read a complete book listing all the facts about swimming or riding a bike and still not know how to do these things. (Another one here for God: Does God know how to ride a bike? Wouldn't ione need to have a body that is--at at least was at some time-- appropriately configured for a bike, and also have the actual experience/skill in order to know how? Not sure what to say about this one, either...)

One more kind of knowledge that is sometimees also considered is called "knowledge by acquaintance." Do you know Kim Yu-Na, the figure skater?" (I wish I did!) Not sure this really is knowledge, but we do talk about it as if it is.

Anyway, this may be a few examples to consider.

Question Can facts tell us everything we need to know about the world? What else is there to know besides facts? Accepted:July 3, 2011

Question Can facts tell us everything we need to know about the world? What else is there to know besides facts?

Accepted:
July 3, 2011