1. Personal and Shared Knowledge

2. Personal knowledge
The knowledge that a particular individual has of the world
Experiential knowledge: based on personal acquaintance or practical know-how
Second-hand knowledge: Acquired form sources such as your culture, school, the Internet and the news media
Academic knowledge – your understanding of academic subjects
Informal knowledge – Your stock of cultural and locla knowledge, random facts and trivia

3. Shared Knowledge
The sum total of knowledge which we can communicate to one another
Includes: academic knowledge, informal knowledge and that part of practical know-how we can communicate verbally or non-verbally
Usually shared by groups:
Friends: bound together by shared experiences and knowledge known to them
Subject specialists: Own set of assumptions, specialist language (philosophers, doctors, etc.)
Cultures: Have their own hidden assumptions and unwritten rules which may be difficult to explain to outsiders

4. Personal Knowledge Majority is derived second-hand from other sources
Background knowledge plays a major role in critical thinking
To the ignorant mind nothing is surprising and all knowledge claims, no matter how outlandish or bizarre, will seem equally plausible

5. Obstacles to Personal Knowledge
Ignorance – we need to know what we DON’T know
“Illusion of explanatory depth” – you don’t understand something as well as you think you do
Apathy – Once we form an opinion about something we don’t want to change our minds
Attached to our beliefs because they are: familiar, partly reflect our identity, we dislike the uncertainty we feel when we question them
Fantasy – Easy to slip from wanting something to be true to believing that it IS true (wishful thinking)

6. Obstacles to Personal Knowledge
Bias – Difficult to resist the feeling that our way of looking at the world is uniquely perceptive and insightful
Easy to spot biases in other people’s opinions, but not our own
Peer pressure – Most people would rather be liked than be right
We overestimate the extent to which people we associate with think as we do. This is called “false consensus effect”

7. Shared Knowledge Vast majority of our knowledge
Closely connected with language
Culture – passing on beliefs and practices from one generation to the next
We build on the accumulated achievements of past generations
Great amount of research is conducted by teams
When people work together they can discuss, check, and critique one another’s ideas
Creative new ideas, approaches and solutions may arise from this approach

8. Dangers of Shared Knowledge
Authority Worship
Blindly accepting what we are told without thinking about it
Nothing should be accepted as true just because someone says so
Claims based on authority must be validated in terms of evidence and argument
Are we obliged to take the opinions of experts simply on faith?

9. Dangers of Shared Knowledge
Groupthink
A form of peer pressure which leads everyone in a group to think in the same way (or act in the same way)
Power Distortions
Government and corporations have a vested interest in influencing our beliefs and values
Power can distort the content of knowledge (changing statistics), influence the direction of academic research, dictate the kind of information people are exposed to

10. Dangers of Shared Knowledge
Fragmentation
Due to intellectual specialization
Experts struggle to keep up with new developments in their field of expertise

11. The Internet Changing our conception of knowledge Drawbacks
Lack of quality control – anyone can publish anything about anything and say anything they want, true or not
Superficiality – Increasingly difficult to concentrate on one particular thing – we no longer look at things in depth
Too many distractions
Filter bubbles – making us narrow minded, only visit websites that agree with our way of thinking

12. Cultural Tradition
A culture is a map through which a group of human beings try to make sense of the world and it consists of beliefs and practices that are passed on from one generation to another
We can learn from other cultures
Reminds us there are many ways of being human and many perspectives on reality
Remember that the longevity of a belief does not mean that it is true

13. School
Play a key role in transmission of knowledge from one generation to the next
Must be careful of indoctrination: the difference between education and indoctrination is not what is taught but the way it is taught
Teaching must be balanced, showing both sides, allowing students to make up their own minds

14. Expert Opinion
We rely on expert opinion to justify many of our knowledge claims
Sometimes they are wrong
Particularly unreliable when predicting the future
Have a limited range of competence (no great wisdom outside of their area of expertise)

15. When to trust experts Credentials: they have the expertise
Evidence: support their position with evidence and argument
Corroboration: their views are supported by other experts in the field
Track record: good record of honesty and reliability
Neutrality: do not have biases

16. News Media
Agenda Setting: the tendency of the news media to influence which stories the public consider important
Sensationalism bias: “If it bleeds, it leads”
Sensational stories attract our attention
Focus on the extraordinary
Focus on the sensational to the detriment of less dramatic but equally important stories
Bad news bias: helps to create and sustain a climate of fear
National bias: focused on own country

17. News Media
Framing: The news media’s use of picture and language to shape the way a story is presented
Influences the way readers or watchers see the story
Blame frames – somebody has to be at fault
Pictures – flattering or unflattering can bias an audience