Understanding the Nature and Types of Knowledge

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What is knowledge?

Knowledge is the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience. Knowledge requires interpretation and understanding of someone or something.

Let's take an example of knowledge: Reading. Knowing how to read and reading is different. If someone says he/she can read, true, but when you hand them a book and say read it aloud, it will be difficult for them. Because they do not read every day or they lack practice.

Another great example is a scene from the movie called "The Matrix," where Neo learns kung fu. Morpheus challenges Neo for a dual, and Neo loses every dual against Morpheus. Why? Because Neo only had all the knowledge in his head about kung fu but never actually implemented it.

Where knowledge comes from?

Learning is the best way to gain knowledge. Learning the reason is why we go to school, college, and universities. We go there to consume knowledge, not to get a degree.

Knowledge can be gained from many different sources and in many different ways. It can come from observation, familiarity, experimentation, collection of data, etc., etc.

Knowledge is everywhere. In India, we pray to the Goddess of Knowledge, Saraswati. She is the incarnation of knowledge, speech, music, art, wisdom, and learning. She has four hands representing four aspects of human personality: mind, intellect, alertness, and ego.

As a kid, just before leaving for the exams, my parents would tell me to pray to the goddess of knowledge. She would help me pass the test. And I believed it, and I used to pray before going to the exam. It somehow gave me confidence, calmed my mind, and reduced my nervousness drastically. FYI, I studied for the exams, and of course, I wasn't expecting god to write my paper but, the knowledge of having a god by my side while I write my test was something else. 

Types of knowledge

Don Norman says that knowledge is in the head and the world. Let's find out how.

Knowledge in the world:

Whenever knowledge is needed to do a task that is readily available in the world, the need for us to learn it diminishes. For example, The Keyboard. Many typists have learned the positions of each key on the keyboard, so their typing speed is faster. Each key is labeled non-typists can hunt down each labeled key and type. This knowledge is also known as external knowledge.

Knowledge in the head:

Technically speaking, knowledge can only be in the head. We acquire knowledge in the head by reading, writing, and remembering things. We need to learn something to consume knowledge. Knowledge in the world requires interpretation of the environment, unlike knowledge in the head.

Which knowledge is needed first?

Both types of knowledge are essential in our day-to-day functioning. In some situations, we may have to give importance to one or the other. 

References

The Design of Everyday Things - Don Norman