RE: Knowledge is manufactured?

["Melissa Nelson" <melmis36 -at- hotmail -dot- com>]

Laurens theory on knowledge reminds me a little of my favorite quote on 
knowledge from Richard Feynman:

"You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when 
you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird... 
So let's look at the bird and see what it's doing -- that's what counts. I 
learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and 
knowing something."

Not sure it applies to all the arguments in this thread...but Lauren's email 
just made it pop into my head.

Melissa


>From: "Lauren" <lt34 -at- csus -dot- edu>
>To: <Gause_Brian -at- emc -dot- com>,<techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
>Subject: RE: Knowledge is manufactured?
>Date: Fri, 3 Aug 2007 13:51:22 -0700
>
> > From: Gause_Brian -at- emc -dot- com
>
> > More specifically, "information" is a building block of "knowledge",
> > which is the result of conscious analysis. And both can be transmitted
> > as information...All talk generates information. It is only with the
> > mental work in your head that you create knowledge.
> >
> > Both of these words are nonsense in the context of my title,
> > though. My
> > expertise transcends this distinction between information and
> > knowledge.
> > I am a writer.
> >
> > Brian Gause
>
>Well here's a theory of knowledge and existentialism.
>
>How do you know what you know?  All "knowledge" is a first-person account 
>of
>subjective perceptions.  We call it "knowledge" when we can get another
>person to confirm the contents of our heads by comparing our assessments.
>If I say that I know that I exist, I can't prove it.  I can say that I
>believe that I exist and other people believe that I exist.  The beliefs of
>other people, like my own beliefs are based on subjective perceptions.  We
>can say that because we perceive someone else, then that person exists, but
>confirming our perceptions against the perceptions of others is not proof
>because the comparison is still subjective.  I can only prove that I exist
>if somebody objectively says that I exist because I cannot get outside of
>myself to form that objective assessment.  I can only objectively say that
>somebody else exists if I can form an objective perception.  I cannot form
>an objective perception because I cannot get outside of myself.  Therefore,
>I cannot prove that somebody else exists and no one can prove that I exist.
>I can only "know" something if I exist because we must exist to have
>knowledge.  I can't know if I exist, so I can't have knowledge.
>
>Therefore, there is no knowledge, but, of course, I can write about it,
>whatever *it* is.
>
>Lauren
>
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