1. Knowledge by Description
WHAT?
Knowledge can be divided into 2 categories, the first being Knowledge by Description.

2. The ways Maja, and you, know things
Acquaintance
Introspection
Empathy
Conscience
Faith
Moral Belief
Logically
Empirically
Authority
Memory
Instinctively
Practice
Of the 12 ways we “know” things 4, the first 4, are by Description

3. Knowledge by Description
Belief
True
Justified
Knowledge by description: true, justified belief. It is impersonal and objective
Belief. Do you believe it? You have to believe it to know it. Why do you believe it?
I believe my watch tells accurate time. I know this is true.
You can’t say: “I don’t believe my watch tells accurate time. But I know it does.” It is logically contradictory.
Is it true? In order for something to be true, it has to meet certain criteria.
Public. It is true for everyone (public truth)—it is not just true for you (private truth). For example, water is wet. This is true for everyone. If I asked you what the best flavor of ice cream is, you might say, “chocolate.” This is true for you, but maybe not for everybody, so it is a private truth.
Independent. Is this concept true regardless (independently) of what you believe? For example, even though I may believe water is dry, that doesn’t make it so—water is still wet. If I believe chocolate is the best flavor, then that makes it true for me, but if I change my mind and like vanilla instead, my personal truth is that vanilla is the best flavor. That personal truth (ice cream preference) changes based on my based on my belief. The wetness of water does not.
Eternal. Is it true now and forever? For example, if water is wet today, will it still be wet tomorrow? The next day? For every day in the foreseeable future? Has water always been wet? If the answer is yes, (and it is) then this is an eternal truth. An example of truth that is not eternal: “My mom is happy.” She may be happy today, but tomorrow she may be angry if I crash her car into a snow bank.
Is it justified? There are four ways to justify truth in this sense. (See Maja’s four ways of knowing).
Logic – 1+1 = 2.
Empirical evidence = I observe that water turns to steam at 100 degrees Celsius.
Memory – I remember that every day the sun comes up.
Authority – Chemists have studied copper and determined it is an element. I understand that scientists rigorously study knowledge, so I trust their findings to be true—they are authorities in their fields.

4. True Public Independent Eternal
In order for something to be “a Truth” is must meet these 3 criteria.

5. Justified
There are four ways to justify truth in this sense. (See Maja’s Ways of Knowing # 1- 4).
1. Logic
2. Empirical Evidence
3. Memory
4. Authority
In order for us to “justify” our knowledge we must be able to “describe” them, or explain them, in one of these 4 ways.

6. Necessary vs. Sufficient Conditions
AWESOME
Necessary vs. sufficient conditions: The above conditions are all necessary but not sufficient conditions for knowledge by description. An example: Red and blue are necessary primary colors needed to create violet — you cannot create violet without red and blue. Together, they are sufficient to create violet —if you mix red and blue paint, you get violet paint. But red by itself is not sufficient to create violet paint, and blue by itself is not sufficient to create violet paint.
In the same way, you cannot have knowledge by description without true, justified belief and the ability to fully describe the knowledge itself.

7. Knowledge by Acquaintance (See Maja’s Ways of Knowing # 5- 12).
Knowledge by Acquaintance is personal and individual, it is subjective
“Can you describe the feeling of sand under your feet? Or the smell of a dog kennel? Or how you can recognize your friends when you see them in the local shopping mall? These things we know by acquaintance” (Woolman 27).
And only you know them in the ways you do.
Knowledge by acquaintance is derived through experience—you come to know things through the personal experiences you have in life. For knowledge by acquaintance, you can't really provide solid evidence that you know what you can say you know, it is personal and individual.

8. knowledge by acquaintance
For example, one of my best friends, Natasha, gets moody sometimes when she is unhappy. She never says anything, but I have known her long enough that I can tell based on very subtle differences in her personality when she is feeling upset. I don't have any proof for that, and I can't describe it, but I know when it is happening. That is knowledge by acquaintance.

9. KBA: Definition

10. KBA and perception
You may believe that democracy is the best form of government—you live in a democracy and you've seen other parts of the world that don't have as good a standard of living.
But someone with different personal experience may feel differently.
Additionally, your perception, reason, emotions and language cloud things up. In North Korea, most people are unaware of the world outside their nation, but does that make their knowledge by acquaintance any less real or true to them?
Can knowledge by acquaintance be trusted?
Knowledge by acquaintance – very difficult to prove what you know as opposed to knowledge by description. And there are the limitations of language and cloudy perception, faulty reason, and emotion.

11. Discussion point Can knowledge by acquaintance be trusted?
Knowledge by acquaintance – very difficult to prove what you know as opposed to knowledge by description. And there are the limitations of language and cloudy perception, faulty reason, and emotion.

12. Additional Issues to Explore: Solipsism
The issue of “knowledge” is very difficult to pinpoint. Solipsism: are we all just brains in a vat? Do I know that anyone/anything other than me really exists?) comes from the uncertainty of a good answer to “what is knowledge?”

14. Additional Issues to Explore: Knowledge Theories
Knowledge by description and knowledge by acquaintance are just theories we have – they are ONLY theories, which means they are only our best attempts so far to explain these concepts of knowledge. They are not necessarily perfect or complete. These issues are still very much under discussion.

15. Additional Issues to Explore: Knowledge Theories—Moving Forward
Even though we don't have a perfect theory of knowledge, and even though there are loopholes, we have to move forward. We can't doubt everything. But we do have to keep in mind that these are our best guesses for now. If a better way were to be created, we would need to change how we do things. If new information comes to light, we need to change our knowledge, opinions, beliefs.

16. Additional Issues to Explore: Ways of Knowing and Language
Our perception, reason, emotion, and language influence our knowledge, but they can also taint it. We must understand and acknowledge our biases
Expanding your vocabulary, your language knowledge, is so important. Imagine you are trying to explain that your mother loves you but you can only use 10 words. You could do a better job if you could use 100 words to describe it, and you could do even better if you had 1000 words.

17. Additional Issues to Explore: Language
 The difference between knowing a “fact” (KBD) and knowing how to do something, or knowing a personal truth (KBA).