Answering the question "what is knowledge" is complex because this is an abstract concept that, despite having been studied from different perspectives and disciplines, does not have a single definition. In this post we try to collect some of those points of view so that the reader can get their own idea of what it means.
To begin, Martínez and Guerrero (p. 10), propose the following answers to the question what is knowledge:
- It is a set of knowledge obtained by intuition, experience or by belonging to a social group It is a process by which the human being obtains internal representations of an object It is a process of construction of concepts that allow referring to the phenomena that are present in reality. It is a mental process that consists of classifying, explaining and understanding the phenomena of nature and knowing how and why reality works in a certain way.
In the Dictionary of the Language of the Royal Spanish Academy, the meaning of the word knowledge is related, on the one hand, with expressions such as understanding, wisdom and intelligence, all of them imbued in the intellectual sphere of the individual, in their rational sphere; on the other, it is linked to the term consciousness, which the RAE itself defines as the ability of the human being to recognize the surrounding reality and to relate to it, a meaning that is located more in the field of what is perceived through the senses.
Knowledge on the intellectual plane
Keraminiyage, Amaratunge, and Haigh (p. 3), citing Marakas and Alexander, describe it as the organized combination - the repository - of ideas, rules, procedures, information, skills, experiences, beliefs, and skills. memories that an individual possesses.
In a similar sense, Probst, Raub and Romhardt (p. 24), define it as the whole set of cognitions and abilities with which individuals usually solve problems, comprising both theory and practice, everyday rules as well as instructions for action, knowledge is based on data and information, but unlike these it is always linked to people; it is an integral part of individuals and represents their beliefs about causal relationships.
Thus understood, then it is had as a human intellectual capacity. According to Paniagua (p. 53), knowledge is our ability to understand (and therefore use for our purposes) the qualities and relationships of the things that make up our environment. In addition, he adds that one way to understand knowledge is by analyzing its differences regarding data and information:
- A data is a discrete value that describes a fact in the world. Data is unstructured, it does not say anything about the reason for things, nor about their possible interpretation or purpose (for example, the value 37). Unlike data, information does have interpretation and purpose (since they intervene the sender and the receiver in the message), that is, they are represented in a context, being the set of structured data that serve to, for example, categorize, analyze, evaluate, etc., the facts of the world that surround us (for example, the value 37 may be representing the temperature of a patient) Finally, knowledge is much broader than information, and treats it as an instrument to act, that is, it is that information (acquired, selected, evaluated, internalized, etc.) that allows us to carry out actions to achieve our objectives. Seen in another way, knowledge is that information that has undergone an analysis, through which said information acquires relevance and usefulness to be able to act and achieve our objectives (for example, the value 37 of temperature can be related to the category « infectious fever ", and this category with the action" medicate antibiotic "to achieve the objective" cured ").and this category with the action «medicate antibiotic» to achieve the objective «cured»).and this category with the action «medicate antibiotic» to achieve the objective «cured»).
And he proposes the following graph to synthesize the concept:
Transformation of data to information and knowledge, Paniagua (p. 55)
What is knowledge in the orbit of the senses
It is said that all knowledge starts from the senses. Vicente (p. 18) states that "there is nothing in the understanding that has not passed through some sense before," in addition, he points out that despite having its origin in the sensible experience, it is also crossed by rationality, therefore, knowledge is not properly sensitive or intellectual, but is a whole, a sum, an intimate union of body and mind, of sensible experience and reason.
In the sensitive or sensitive aspect of knowledge, empiricism took root when Locke raised the three types of knowledge, namely: sensitive, which is evidenced through the senses, demonstrative, which requires mental reasoning to be evident, and intuitive, the one that does not require rational intervention or of the senses, that is evident immediately and is in previous experiences.
Returning to Vicente (p. 33), two factors are required, on the one hand, matter (the object) with its qualities and energies, on the other, the subject with its ability to detect them; and two elementary moments for the sensation to occur, the first is the stimulus, which consists of the impression of the energies and qualities of the object, the second is consciousness, which is when the subject captures the impression of the object. The first moment is physical, mechanical, it is not yet sensation, it requires the second, a psychic process, to transform it into true sensation. Hence, as noted above, the union of the senses and reason is required to create knowledge.
The knowledge process
Taking into account the factors and moments referred to above, it is found that the knowledge process is a relationship between these two factors (parts), the knowable object and the knowing subject, which when interacting generate knowledge or knowledge as a product.
This interaction occurs under three models (Schaf, pp. 101 - 108):
In the first, it is the knowable object that takes the leading role and the initiative by stimulating the sensitive apparatus of the subject who, in this case, is passive, its role is that of an instrument that registers the impulses that come from outside, similar to that of a mirror, if compared to visual perception. The differences that appear in the image of the reality of different observers, come from the individual or qualitative differences of their perceptual apparatus.
In the second, roles are exchanged, active subject, passive object, according to this model, the object is created by the subject, it is his product. This confirms the psychological thesis according to which, it is the point of view from which it is observed and reflected that determines that attention is focused on this or that aspect of reality.
In the third, both the subject and the object maintain an objective and real existence, at the same time that they exert a mutual influence on each other. The subject is active and has a social burden that determines his perspective.
What is needed for it to exist
There is no single definition of knowledge, philosophical explorations see it as a complex and abstract concept that to exist requires the fulfillment of certain conditions, necessary and sufficient. What conditions? The first is that for someone to know something, what is believed must be true, that is, if what I believe is false then I cannot know it and if I do not believe it I cannot know it either. So if what I believe is true then do I know? Belief and truth would be necessary but not sufficient conditions, a justification would be needed to prove in some way the attribution of knowledge, being so, knowledge is the justified true belief. (Blasco and Grimaltos, p. 67 and 68)
The definition of knowledge from the Bunge Philosophy Dictionary (p. 34) says that it is the result of a cognitive process, such as perception, experiment or deduction and warns that to qualify some knowledge it is necessary but not sufficient that it be true. True knowledge is a special case of knowledge: most of our knowledge is conjectural and only half true. Two types of knowledge must be distinguished, knowing how (know-how, know-how), (or tacit knowledge, by familiarity, or instrumental knowledge) and knowing what know-that (or explicit knowledge, by description, or declarative). For example, I know how to ride a bike but I don't know the complicated mechanisms (both mechanical and neuromuscular) of this action;I am intimately familiar with myself but do not know myself thoroughly.
Ñaupas, Mejía, Novoa and Villagomez (pp. 34 and 35) describe the following four characteristics to indicate that knowledge is true:
- It is objective. If it captures the way of being or behaving of the objects of reality, as it is, and not as the knowing subject would like. It is universal. Whether a way of being or behaving of objects can be verified by any researcher, but under similar conditions. It is necessary. Necessity means invariability, that is to say, reaching the same results from the experience of knowing. Between universality and the need for knowledge there is a close relationship or conditionality, if knowledge is universal, it is logically necessary and vice versa. It is well founded. If, in addition to being objective, universal and necessary, it is accompanied by proofs or foundations, reasons that prove the way of being or behaving of the object.
Knowledge = true belief + justification (Tomasini, p. 168)
Knowledge characteristics
Knowledge has five essential characteristics (Alegre, pp. 53-55), namely:
- Transfer. It is related to the way in which certain knowledge can be moved from one holder to another. For example, a mother jaguar who teaches her calf how to take advantage of the darkness of the night to hunt is transferring (sharing) her knowledge, the same that will be replicated by the calf of her calf and the calf of her calf… Appropriation. It refers to the ability of the recipient to take as her own the resource that is being shared or transferred. In the case of the previous example, it would then be that the young jaguar manages to become independent and hunt to survive when the time comes, it is assumed that it will leave the "nest" when it is ready, although it will only know Imitation. Can the baby jaguar access knowledge through the reproduction of its mother's behaviors? Yes, this is just how he appropriates the knowledge required to hunt, imitating his mother's movements and tactics, so he will know when to attack and when to retreat or what prey is worth it and what is not. Aggregation. How much knowledge is transferred, transmission and reception, depends on how much the receiver absorbs and how much the holder delivers, on how these two elements are integrated. How much knowledge the mother jaguar will be able to share with her calf will depend, in part, on how much her mother shared with her and on what she has learned through her experiences in her own time, each one will be creating knowledge for herself and for the next generations.Support. It refers to the container in which knowledge is deposited, it can be an individual, a community, an organization. It can also be the physical media in which it is located, a notebook, a book or a computer medium.
Knowledge in the organization
Within the framework of organization theory, there is also the concept of knowledge:
Baglieto and Barceló, quote Davenport and Prusak, with the following multidimensional definition: «Knowledge is a combination of values, contextualized information and experiences that provides a framework to evaluate and incorporate new experiences and information. Knowledge originates and is applied in people's minds. In organizations, knowledge resides not only in documents and databases but also in corporate processes, practices and standards.
Bibliographic references
- Alegre V., J. Knowledge management as an engine of innovation. Spain: Publicacions de la Universitat Jaume I. 2004.Baglietto T., A. and Barceló L., M. Towards an economy of knowledge. Spain: ESIC Editorial. 2001.Blasco JL and Grimaltos T. Theory of knowledge. Spain: University of Valencia. 2004 Keraminiyage, KP, Amaratunge, R DG and R. Haigh. A literature review on knowledge management, facilities management and their potential interrelationships. Retrieved April 3, 2020 from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download;jsessionid=7491C1C7077E1CA7C289476D4FAF7A89?doi=10.1.1.398.9862&rep=rep1&type=pdfMartinez, RH y Guerrero sociales. Introduction to Social Sciences. Mexico: Cengage Learning Editores. 2009.Ñaupas P., H, Mejía ME, Novoa RE and Villagómez P., Alberto. Investigation methodology.Colombia: Ediciones de la U. 2014.Probst, G., Raub, S. and Romhardt, K. Manage knowledge. Mexico: Prentice Hall. 2001.Schaff, Adam. Cognitive relationship, process of knowledge and truth. Journal of philosophy DIÁNOIA,, v. 16, n. 16, p. 97–123, Sep. 1970. ISSN 1870-4913. Available at: <>. Retrieved April 13, 2020 from http://dianoia.filosoficas.unam.mx/index.php/dianoia/article/view/1097Tomasini, BA Theory of classical knowledge and Wittgensteinian epistemology. Mexico: Plaza y Valdes Editores. 2001.Vicente B., L. Introduction to the Study on Sensitive Knowledge and Experience. Spain:n. 16, p. 97–123, Sep. 1970. ISSN 1870-4913. Available at: <>. Retrieved April 13, 2020 from http://dianoia.filosoficas.unam.mx/index.php/dianoia/article/view/1097 Tomasini, BA Classical knowledge theory and Wittgensteinian epistemology. Mexico: Plaza y Valdes Editores. 2001.Vicente B., L. Introduction to the Study on Sensitive Knowledge and Experience. Spain:n. 16, p. 97–123, Sep. 1970. ISSN 1870-4913. Available at: <>. Retrieved April 13, 2020 from http://dianoia.filosoficas.unam.mx/index.php/dianoia/article/view/1097Tomasini, BA Theory of classical knowledge and Wittgensteinian epistemology. Mexico: Plaza y Valdes Editores. 2001.Vicente B., L. Introduction to the Study on Sensitive Knowledge and Experience. Spain:
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