Object does not exist independently of observers
Critique of the closure of any concept ("What is wrong with the notion of
objects existing 'independently' of conceptual schemes is that there are
no standards for the use of even the logical notions apart from conceptual
choices." Representation and Reality, Hilary Putnam, Bradford, 198?,
p.114.)
Logical disconnection of something - even from itself in another moment of
time ("If we take even a symbolic expression 1 = 1, 'absolute sameness' in
'all' aspects is equally impossible, although we may use in this
connection terms such as 'equal', 'equivalent'. 'Absolute sameness in all
aspects' would necessitate an identity of different nervous systems
which produce and use these symbols, an identity of the different
states of the nervous system of the person who wrote the above two
symbols, an identity of the surfaces [etc.], of different parts of the
paper, in the distribution of ink, and what not. To demand such impossible
conditions is, of course, absurd, but it is equally absurd and very
harmful for sanity and civilization to preserve until this day such
delusional formulations as standards of evaluation, and then spend
a lifetime of suffering and toil to evade the consequences." Science and
Sanity: An Introduction to non-Aristotelian systems and General Semantics,
Alfred Korzybski, Lakeville, Conn., Institute of General Semantics, 1958,
pps. 194-5)
Knowledge is a selective/deselective force in evolution (e.g. knowledge of
'wheat' has meant great changes for the wheat family of genotypes and for
other plants, soils and cultures)
Bruno Latour - science belies its particularist roots; fact/belief
dichotomy is replaced by 'factish'; the object always carries a fabricated
element
Constructivism has convincingly shown, following Kant's lead, that the
mind brings its own constructs and expectations to its perceptions.
Quantum mechanics reveals a
fundamental bond between object and observation
Externality of Knowledge
Knowledge can be stored externally
(e.g. writing, tools, roads)
Memes highlight knowledge's ability
to be reproducible, stereotypes the danger of this reproducibility
Gregory Bateson’s ecology of mind
(knowledge is part of a circuit such as axe is part of
human-warmth-fire-wood-cut-axe)
Semiotics reveals all objects to be
signs, carriers of meaning and capable of being used to indicate more
meaning (Note that meaning, like knowledge is an underdefined term)
Knowledge is contextual, shaped
and/or stored in local specific contexts
Dewey’s notion of transactional
bodies places knowledge within a whole of those who use it
Situated knowledge including eco-
and ethno-knowledges and community knowledge place knowledges in a
specific group and context
Sociology
of Knowledge (knowledge is culture)
P. Bourdieu - knowledge resides in
institutions (see also business/econ section below) as a structured "habitus"
where one can acquire social capital.
Metaman/cybiont - humans as part of
a supraorganism where knowledge binds us and where institutions such as
stock exchange function as intelligence or newspapers scares function as
hormonal glands?
Communicational Demands
Narrative and discourse theories -
knowledge is constrained by social
ridges of narratives and social ravines of discourses
Conversational
analysis
(more than knowledge exchange - turn taking, identity negotiation, story
clusters, action sequence negotiations, amplitude shifts, etc.)
Knowledge as truth is detrimental in
dealing with forms of communication such as negotiation that presume
neither same beginning point nor end point.
Epistemics - truth prevents good
(i.e. organized) arguments and disagreements; need for the reappraisal of
rhetoric
All forms of participation including
the
participatory arts (e.g., singing,
dance) are relegated to frivolous position.
Media must present knowledge in an
already organized fashion but allowing some interpretation.
Power Aspects
Knowledge is a form of power - M.
Foucault et al
Knowledge as corrupting (e.g., If
too many people know about it, ...it will be ruined.)
Knowledge as dangerous (e.g., "If I
tell you, I’ll have to kill you.")
Knowledge as the play of
secrecy/advertising (e.g., "The best kept secret in the Bahamas")
Propaganda
Joseph Rouse - Knowledge requires
an analytics analogous to Foucault’s power analytics
Knowledge is often subservient to
ideologies
As covered in Terry Eagleton in
"Ideology" (1991), Verso ideology could be any of the following where each
would entail knowledge as circumscribed into ideology:
Process of production of meanings,
signs and value
Process whereby social life is converted to a natural reality
Body of ideas characteristic of a social group
Socially necessary illusion
Medium in which social actors make sense of their world
Forms of thought motivated by social interests
Ideas/false ideas which bolster a dominant political power
That which offers a position for a subject
Identity thinking
Economic Considerations
Knowledge is a business commodity
Use of knowledge on the internet
implies that it is hierarchical, user controlled, flourishing even in
contradiction and needing to be “maintained.”
Knowledge can be controlled,
purchased
Knowledge as advertising is what an
advertiser can convince consumers to believe
Knowledge as tacit business
practices reveals knowledge to lie hidden in the everyday practices and
habits of the workers and customers.
Knowledge must be enacted to go from
concept to tacit, everyday usefulness.
Knowledge management is involved in
creation, distribution and destruction (outdated practices)
Economics
of knowledge (Knowledge/memory have costs and efficiencies)
Information glut puts
Enlightenment-type knowledge in the sense of knowing almost everything out
of reach as knowledge production outpaces even distribution.
Psychology/Cognition
Unconsciousness (knowledge can be
crippled by the inate patterns)
Knowledge is rutted into more
primitive relational aspects of our personalities
Knowledge as healing where one
specific knowledge or recognition of a problem can cause healing (this
notion predates modern psychology)
Knowledge from psychology has opened
up a bind between control and undermining knowledge where one knower has a
privileged view of another's blind side (and deterministic side).
Cognitive psychology and animal
cognition - knowledge is acquired in discrete steps of cognitive abilities
In evolutionary time and/or in
developmental time
Knowledge is a carrier of emotions
(and some speak of emotional quotient)
Edward de Bono - thinking is a
pattern satisfaction and it comes with different characters (negative,
prolific, etc.)
Virtue epistemology - choices of
rightness are influenced by ethical elements
Robert Kegan - knowledge of
relational thinking is needed to negotiate modern life (not only
relationships but identity itself is used and negotiated) (See "Over Our
Heads: the Mental Demands of Postmodern Life", R. Kegan, Harvard)
Knowledge as carrier of spiritual grasping, unhappiness (See
Spiritual Aspects section)
