Knowledge Definition and 382 Threads

Knowledge is a familiarity, awareness, or understanding of someone or something, such as facts (descriptive knowledge), skills (procedural knowledge), or objects (acquaintance knowledge). By most accounts, knowledge can be acquired in many different ways and from many sources, including but not limited to perception, reason, memory, testimony, scientific inquiry, education, and practice. The philosophical study of knowledge is called epistemology.
The term "knowledge" can refer to a theoretical or practical understanding of a subject. It can be implicit (as with practical skill or expertise) or explicit (as with the theoretical understanding of a subject); formal or informal; systematic or particular. The philosopher Plato famously pointed out the need for a distinction between knowledge and true belief in the Theaetetus, leading many to attribute to him a definition of knowledge as "justified true belief". The difficulties with this definition raised by the Gettier problem have been the subject of extensive debate in epistemology for more than half a century.

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  1. Loren Booda

    Is the scientific method both faith and knowledge based?

    Does the scientific method mark the coexistence between belief and actual science, and describe tenets that involve a religion of information? Its prediction of world events may apply equally to measuring the electron's mass, or consequently to the conviction in its own efficacy. The...
  2. T

    Exploring Mathematics with Limited Knowledge

    so, I'm currently working on my bachelor's in mathematics, and seriously considering going on to pursue a PhD after that. Currently, I'm frustrated (not for long, semester is nearly over) with my calc II course and "matrix theory and linear algebra", though not so much the latter as the former...
  3. B

    Begin to use assembly without any programming knowledge

    I don't know anything about programming. Is it okay if I start with assembly? And more importantly, how can I begin to use assembly without any knowledge. If you could offer me a book / website, I'd really be pleased.
  4. T

    Improving Physics Knowledge for Exams

    Hi, New to this forum and my physics isn't great, and i need to improve a hell of a lot for this years exams :-p. Firstly, Could someone explain to me how the Earth sits in a static orbit with the sun, in that they don't move closer to each other. As i thought until tonight, that...
  5. S

    Help Needed: Frequency to Voltage Converter Knowledge

    hello! Nice to communicate with your guys! I'm a student who is studying in double E subject. I found some problems when I'm doing the new project this term. Is there some one can help me to say something about the principle of the frequency to voltage converter? I'm really confusing with this...
  6. A

    Answers to Tough Questions: Test Your Knowledge

    Same rules. One answer per customer. Try to be honest and supply your answer without simply looking it up somewhere. Rely on your own knowledge. 1) In Thomsen's Three-Age System, the Iron Age begins first in which continent: Asia, Europe, or Africa? 2) Who was the mother of the god Horus...
  7. B

    Imagination is More Important than Knowledge

    Hello! :smile: Einstein has been know to say, "Imagination is more important than knowledge." My friend, who I often learn science from, also encourages me to use my imagination when learning about science...and it indeed has done wonders for me! I am interested in anecdotes from...
  8. R

    ICAL, Another term for radical is the word fundamental.

    Atoms have organized themselves into structures that have the capacity of thought and self awareness. With this in mind, one has to wonder/ask as to how deep into the atomic world does mind penetrate? To some the answer is obvious, that consciousness (mind/energy) is all there is in the...
  9. A

    News Test Your Knowledge: A Little Quiz on US Activities in the Middle East

    A little quiz. Answer only yes or no. If you feel the need to add something other than yes or no, place it at the end of the post please. 1) Have US economic and military activities caused social/economic problems in the Middle East? 2) If your answer to Q1 was yes, is the US...
  10. R

    How could be unified the scientific knowledge?

    Is possible a systematic unification of the scientific knowledge? Make it sense? If so, what would be the profits and limitations of any interdisciplinary work in so distanct areas as Neurosciences, Ethology and Physics? (excepting technical applications of one field on other) Is being...
  11. R

    The Myth Of Empirical Knowledge, Data, Evidence

    The Scientific Method is based on empirical evidence that can be duplicated and verified by more than one person or group. The operative word here is EMPIRICAL. Empirical: that which is observed or experienced; capable of being verified or disproved by observation...
  12. loseyourname

    Is Faith an Acceptable Means of Attaining Knowledge?

    I'm going to go out on a limb here and say no, but I'd still like to see what arguments you guys can produce for and against. My guess is you've probably discussed this before, but I'd still like to see it.
  13. chroot

    Knowledge is Pain: The Reality of Knowing Too Much

    Don't listen when they tell you "KNOWLEDGE IS POWER." Knowledge, in the end, buys only fear, isolation, and sadness. Knowledge is darkness. Knowledge is sitting alone in the dark in your bedroom listening to wonderful music that you can't share with anyone because no one you know has...
  14. Monique

    Test Your Knowledge with PressAnyKey Quiz

    http://www.pressanykey.com/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/pak/jquiz.cgi
  15. O

    C/C++ Help! Coding a Program with Limited Knowledge of C/C++

    I have a program due in couple hours. Professor expects us to know C++ when we never really went over programming; he expects us to just know it .. anyhow I have two inputs used with scanf it's toll and norm these two values need to be put into a data file created by the program...
  16. S

    Some musings on power and knowledge

    Fire. It consumes things, transforming them, jumping from place to place. It gets put out though, a fire never engulfs the entire universe, not even the whole planet. Power. It consumes things, transforming them, jumping form place to place. It gets put out though, a power never controls...
  17. Saint

    Can We Truly Grasp the Unfathomable Love of Christ?

    The bible verses above ask us To Know something Beyond Knowledge. My question is, if it is really beyond knowledge, how can i know it?
  18. R

    A Priori vs A Posteriori Knowledge of God

    Before I begin, I found a great web site, The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy,http://www.utm.edu/research/iep. I've been doing some reading to gett a better handle on some philosophy terms. This is both a question and a topic for discussion if anyone is interested. Now I will define...
  19. G

    Taking my knowledge on further

    I've just entered the high school teaching profession after fiteen years as a professional engineer working for Ford, GM etc, and I need a bit of refreshing my skill base. The highest level I am teaching is British A level (17-18 yr old high school) qualifications - which is well inside my...
  20. Z

    Is the pursuit of ultimate truth futile for humans?

    ..is what humans are built for. I seriously don't think that we can know everything, or frankly should even bother to try. The beauty of thought, from birds all the way to Einstein, is the way we can approximate answers that aren't absolutely perfect, but that are good 'working models'. It is...
  21. A

    Investigating the Constancy of Light-Speed: A Call to Greater Knowledge

    I'm sure this forum is frequented by people claiming to have proven or disproven aspects of relativity. In this case I am appealing to those with greater knowledge than mine, specifically in regards to the constancy of light-speed. The case has been made to me that the speed of light is not...
  22. Kerrie

    Is philosophy practical knowledge?

    Other then teaching, what good is philosophy to each of us? Is it useful to our everyday reality? Is the speculation necessary? Or is it just human to ponder?
  23. Ivan Seeking

    Do we possess intrinsic knowledge?

    If the universe acts and evolves according to hidden structure such as the theories of modern physics and mathematics, then if this cosmic structure manifest also as microstructures such as that of the human mind, then by this could we intrinsically recognize alleged truths such as the existence...
  24. W

    Has knowledge changed perception of reality?

    When I first learned long ago that huge moon during moonrise is not optical distortion, but pure human mind produced illusion, I was quite astonished. http://www.amnh.org/naturalhistory/city_of_stars/21_full_moon.html It is explained away by fact that for human, atmosphere above seems...
  25. dawidi

    A symbol for scientific knowledge?

    I was wondering how it could be possible to make some other ("sci-fi" thinking, I know...) intelligent lifeform aware of human knowledge and scientific status by means of a symbol or something - assuming of course that this other lifeform can interpret two-dimensional vector graphics as a means...
  26. FZ+

    The Evolution of Knowledge: A Random, Creative, and Competitive Process

    Hmm... I have a new hypothesis on how knowledge (or at least, scientific knowledge) works. Knowledge, imho is does not proceed from divine inspiration, or random spurts, or gradual building up, but in a combination of these processes via a system akin to evolution. 1. Mutation. This comes...
  27. R

    Faith and Knowledge by Jacques Derrida

    "Faith and Knowledge" by Jacques Derrida "Faith and Knowledge" by Jacques Derrida Like others before, the new 'wars of religion' unleash themselves over the human Earth (which is not the world) and struggle even today to control the sky with fingers and eyes: digital systems and virtually...
  28. heusdens

    How do we know? A scientific theory of knowledge

    http://home.clear.net.nz/pages/wpnz/howdoweknow.htm"
  29. Loren Booda

    Can we know if our knowledge is finite?

    Here I ask if complete self-knowledge must include an infinite line of reasoning. That line would evolve from infinite introspections, each necessary to accommodate the previous external reference to knowledge accumulated. Shades of Goedel's incompleteness theorem, or more simply, the Cretan...
  30. STAii

    Finding a Digit of Pi Without Previous Knowledge

    I heard there is a certain way to find a certain digit of Pi without knowing the digits before it. Now i tried to make a search on it, and i got some pages, but frankly couldn't understand anything in them ! So i would appreciate if someone could explain to me in a simple way how to figure out...
  31. Iacchus32

    Is knowledge without wisdom a dangerous thing?

    Knowledge is the form (external). Wisdom is the essence (internal). What point is knowledge? if it doesn't exist to serve wisdom? Which is more important? The (external) facts? Or, the (internal) experience which leads to the facts? Is it only knowledge that we seek? (physical...
  32. M

    What is your definition of knowledge?

    Dear Reader, I've a list of questions and would be thankful if you give your set of answers and let us start a discussion on these answers. I will reveal my answers after having seen yours . New questions to be added to the list are also much appreciated. 01. What is your definition of...
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