Earlier this week I suggested that sharing knowledge is a positive action that benefits both the person sharing and the recipient. Steve challenged that statement, and I felt that a proper response was necessary. I’m going to explain why (and when) knowledge sharing is a good thing, but I’m going to do so over a couple of posts.
To begin, I’ll start with a definition of knowledge. Epistemology, or the theory of knowledge, provides a well-accepted explanation that this diagram clarifies.
Simply put, knowledge is where truth and belief intersect.
In other words, for me to claim knowledge on an subject, it must be true, and I must believe it to be true. Of course, it’s possible that I might later learn that what I thought was true was, in fact, false. If such a case were ever to happen (hypothetically, of course), then you would say that I, in fact, did not possess knowledge on that subject. The same is true on a macro level. As we discover new truths about the world around us, previously held views are found to be false.
The three areas outside of the intersection should not be neglected. First, there are truths that we do not believe. We may not know enough to believe them to be true, or we may be skeptical of the reliability of proof. The second area, belief, contains what we either cannot know (i.e. does God exist?) or do not know, but personally believe.
The third area… I’ll go into more in my next post.
