#79 - Knowledge(1) - What Is Knowledge?(I)

#79 - Knowledge(1) - What Is Knowledge?(I)

Happy Friday everyone!

So many things to think and explore!

We all have heard things like "Lisa has a great knowledge of dogs" or "Joe is very knowledgeable about cooking" or "Tina knows a lot about relationship", but what do these people mean by "knowledge", "knowledgeable" and "know"? What is knowledge? Today, I am going to answer these questions.

First, let me answer the question: What is knowledge?

My definition is that knowledge is information that can help us get what we want. For example, the knowledge of music theory is the information that helps us to understand music, read music, compose music and play music and so on.

According to the definition, there are some characteristics that distinguish knowledge from non-knowledge:

1. Utility. The most important characteristic of knowledge is its usefulness, information that is not useful can not be regarded as knowledge. So in this sense, knowledge is a relative concept, not a absolute one, for some, a piece of information is regarded as knowledge, for others, it isn't. For example, for musicians, music theory is very important and useful, which can be said as knowledge, but for non-musicians, music theory may not be very important and useful, even though they know that for some people, music theory is very important, but they don't think that music theory is the knowledge they need to acquire.

2. Practicability. The second most important characteristic that distinguishes knowledge from non-knowledge is its practicability, information that can not help you get what you want can not be regarded as knowledge. Again, it is relative. For example, we know how to get to a library, but if we don't like reading books, this information may not be seen as knowlege, but if we love reading books, this information immediately is turned into a part of our knowlege, which can help us get what we want.

3. Truthfulness. If someone told you that some dogs could speak English and you believed it, do you think that "some dogs could speak English" is a part of your knowledge, even it is not true? This piece of information can not pass the first two criteria, utility and practicability, so it can not be regarded as knowledge.

4. Comprehensibility. Information that we can barely understand can not be regarded as our knowledge. When we talk about knowledge, we should distinguish knowledge itself from knowledge we possess.

Alright, today we have seen the definition of knowledge and distinguished what is knowledge from what is not, in the next chapter, I will be talking more about what is and is not knowledge, I am very exciting to do it.

Thanks for reading and let's explore our world!

Be thirsty and be greedy!

^