Knowing 101: The Subtle Art of Acquiring Knowledge
Turning every opportunity of knowing in to acquiring knowledge
To know is to create.
Sounds a bit dramatic? It is, but not too far from the truth. If we do not know about something, it simply doesn’t exist for us.
Have you heard of Xtojastojna Cave? If not, it did not exist for you so far. Now that I tell you that it is a cave in Zambia, it has come in to existence for you. Still, none of the salient feature of this cave exist for you. It will get created in your mind as you will know more about it. Now, I tell you that the cave is of limestone and one of the deepest in the world. Your creation has become more detailed.
But, what if I tell you now, that there is no such cave in Zambia?
To know is to destroy as well.
Knowledge, etymologically, means the state of knowing. When we know, we are capable of creating the true picture of the world for us, and destroy any wrong notions we had.
For most practical purposes we assume acquiring knowledge to be equivalent of learning - education or training. In reality, they are a tool to gain a small subset of knowledge we gain in our life time. We might start and stop using those tools at different stages in our lives, but acquiring knowledge never stops.
How do we do that? By simply knowing.
It is extremely important to understand that our knowledge is made up of everything that we know, whether from formal sources - education, training etc. or casual sources - movies, stories etc. Or, from just going about our lives.
Lets unpack!
It is said that, the pursuit of knowledge never ends. And that is true in the sense that there is no extent of acquiring knowledge. Knowledge - the state of knowing, never ends. But, there is a definite start, and it begins with the beginning of life, or may be even before. In Mahabharat, Subhadra and Arjun’s son Abhimanyu is said to have acquired knowledge of entering a Chakravyuh in womb, while his father explained it to his mother.
So, where does knowledge comes from? Everywhere.
Broadly, all the knowledge that we have can be put down in four categories - factual, conceptual, procedural and metacognitive. And, the sources that they come from can be listed as - experience, authority and reasoning. By no means these are definite or exhaustive lists. There are many other ways in which we can categorize knowledge and its sources.
Why is it important for us to know this? Knowing when, where, what and how of the knowledge makes us more conscious of what we know - the extent or the lack of it. How we know - the certainty and the lack of it. This knowledge improves our awareness of the self, increasing our metacognitive abilities. The dedicated field of the study of the nature, origin and limits of human knowledge is called epistemology.
Sources of Knowledge
Lets explore a bit about the sources of knowledge before we head to the types of knowledge.
Experience
Most of the things that we know about comes from our own experiences. Right after we are born, we begin to know the world through what we see, hear, taste, smell and touch. When we engage with the world, we perceive it through our senses, and this perception becomes our fundamental knowledge on which every thing else gets built.
Our perceived knowledge tells us how to go about our lives - identify safety from danger, friend from foe, tasty from bland, beautiful from eyesore etc. Some of these experiences we remember and are able to recall when required. We consciously recognize them as knowledge. A lot of it which we don’t recognize as knowledge consciously, also form a part of our knowledge base - we call it our gut feeling, or intuition.
As every thing that we do, can be labeled under ‘an experience’, one may say that all we know is from our experiences, and thus experience alone is the true source of all knowledge.
Authority
This includes everyone who ever tell us anything, though the impact of the authority may vary based on position they take. A teacher, an elder or a friend we trust can become a very important source of knowledge; while those we don’t trust despite holding expertise might now be an authority for us. So our parents telling us about the dangers of fire makes us aware without ever experiencing multiple fires burning multiple thing.
The whole subset of our knowledge that comes from learning - education or training - is imparted to us from an authority. Other forms of authority include media - books, reports, movies, news media etc. They greatly shape our world view and hold much sway on our thinking.
Reasoning
Reasoning is our ability to think - process information - in a systematic and logical way to come out with understanding and inferences.
Many epistemologists argue that reasoning is the only true source of knowledge. My contention with them is that it narrows down the definition of knowledge to only those set of know - how that we can claim to understand with some level of expertise.
Some believe that reasoning is an ability that we are born with, but many argue that it is a cognitive skill that we develop as we learn more about the world - things and relations among them. Through our ability to reason, we infer and conclude from the information that we collect via experience and authority.
If reasoning is a method to process what we already know, can it be called a source of knowledge? Yes, through reasoning alone, ‘new knowledge’ comes in to existence and scientific breakthrough happens. From experience and authority we can only know about things that have already been recognized. Through reasoning we discover and invent.
Types of Knowledge
All that is to know in the world can be categorized in many manners. It can be based on subject, purpose, type, method of disbursement etc. This is a quick primer on the categorization that I prefer and seem effective in encompassing pretty much everything.
Factual Knowledge
Factual knowledge can be defined as key information - definitions, terminologies, specific details etc. This would include names of things, places, people, colours, animals etc., or things which are more specific - like how many legs are there on a dog - but still just facts. Think of all the things that can be asked using what, where, who, how many etc?
Conceptual Knowledge
Conceptual knowledge include everything which answers questions with ‘why’. They are the explainers related to factual knowledge including interrelations, functions, causes, effects, principles, derivations, conclusions etc.
Conceptual knowledge helps us gain expertise and enhances our ability to reason further. It, in a way, is the logical development, whether breakdown or expansion, of factual knowledge.
Procedural Knowledge
This is the type of knowledge which helps us turn what we know in to practice. Think of all the things which can be an answer to questions asking ‘how’. These includes techniques, methods, skills, algorithms, processes etc.
When we recognize stairs, we gain factual knowledge. Our understanding that one needs to climb to get to the top is conceptual language. And, the process of lifting one leg after another and placing on each step subsequently to climb is procedural knowledge.
If, I may draw your attention back to ‘source of knowledge’, climbing stairs is a process which we learn from authority - our elders teach us as a kid, and hone through experience. But it is not something which we actively reason for, and consciously remember as procedure. This we retain mostly intuitively.
A lot of day to day natural procedural knowledge are intuitive to us, but those which we identify as skills are consciously acquired and remembered.
Metacognitive Knowledge
Metacognitive knowledge is probably the least explored and least paid attention to knowledge that sometime we actively try to ignore. It is the knowledge behind the knowledge.
Metacognition is the ability of an individual to analyze their own-selves. More often than not, it is used in context of knowledge. Metacognition as a process is a feed which helps us plan, evaluate, adjust and verify our process of acquiring knowledge. If our feed is broken, our whole process of acquiring knowledge - formal or casual - will be derailed.
Most important utilization of metacognition is in learning. The first thing that we need to learn, is to understand what we need to learn. That is the question metacognition answers.
Why should we know about knowing?
If we understand extent of our knowledge, their types and sources, it helps us in understanding our potential and requirements.
If there is a goal that you have in life, you would require knowledge to achieve it. Understanding about knowledge helps you understand what kind of knowledge and/or knowledge sources are at your disposal which can help in achieving your goals, which ones you lack and how can you bridge that gap.
Afterall, to know is to create.
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