Monday 8 February 2016

Shared vs Personal Knowledge


Shared knowledge is accumulated by a group of people. For example, chemistry is a vast discipline built up over centuries by a large number of people working together. Individual chemists can contribute to this knowledge base by performing experiments. The results of this research are then written in the form of research papers and presented to peers for review. If there is enough corroboration of the results according to standards set by the chemistry community, they are accepted and become part of the corpus of chemistry knowledge.

This knowledge is passed on through technical articles written in specialist chemistry journals.
Personal knowledge, on the other hand, is not so easily shared. This might be because it is not so easily put into words. This type of knowledge depends crucially on the experiences of the individual whereas shared knowledge does not. Knowledge I gain through practice and habituation, such as the ability to play soccer, play video games, play the guitar dance and draw. Knowledge of my own personal biography through my memory.

Each type of knowledge is personal and is usually not communicated (and if it is, it is not accepted by the community) and so remains in the realm of personal knowledge, not shared knowledge.
Shared knowledge can influence personal knowledge. For example, after studying a lot about the heart and the effects of exercise on my body. I am able to gain personal knowledge which was influenced by the shared knowledge I gained by reading the biology text book. 

From an individual point of view, shared knowledge is considered to be a form of authority. Knowledge has authority because it has, in most instances, been validated by the procedures and methods of inquiry of the subject area concerned. The individual without option to these same procedures might feel that he or she has to take the authority on trust. An example here might be a patient trusting the judgment of the medical profession. 

Shared knowledge is accumulated by a group of people. For example, chemistry is a vast discipline built up over centuries by a large number of people working together. Individual chemists can contribute to this knowledge base by performing experiments. The results of this research are then written in the form of research papers and presented to peers for review. If there is enough corroboration of the results according to standards set by the chemistry community, they are accepted and become part of the corpus of chemistry knowledge. This knowledge is passed on through technical articles written in specialist chemistry journals.

Personal knowledge, on the other hand, is not so easily shared. This might be because it is not so easily put into words. This type of knowledge depends crucially on the experiences of the individual whereas shared knowledge does not. Knowledge I gain through practice and habituation, such as the ability to play soccer, play video games, play the guitar dance and draw. Knowledge of my own personal biography through my memory.
Each type of knowledge is personal and is usually not communicated (and if it is, it is not accepted by the community) and so remains in the realm of personal knowledge, not shared knowledge.

Shared knowledge can influence personal knowledge. For example, after studying a lot about the heart and the effects of exercise on my body. I am able to gain personal knowledge which was influenced by the shared knowledge I gained by reading the biology text book.
From an individual point of view, shared knowledge is considered to be a form of authority. Knowledge has authority because it has, in most instances, been validated by the procedures and methods of inquiry of the subject area concerned. The individual without option to these same procedures might feel that he or she has to take the authority on trust. An example here might be a patient trusting the judgment of the medical profession. 

"Shared and Personal Knowledge." TOK Essay. Web. 08 Feb. 2016. Date published and Authors' name was not published.

 

https://mariaalbatok.wordpress.com/2015/02/10/religious-knowledge-systems/

1 comment:

  1. It is double posted but there are some excellent examples to support ideas and well chosen links to subjects you study. Might there also be an issue with language when we try to communicate our personal knowledge? Once, a doctor asked me to describe my pain on a 1-5 scale. I was puzzled by this because I couldn't figure out how my 1-5 was the same as her one to five. (I was 12 or something). I asked her something like "well, do you hurt more than other people"? She just got annoyed but once I started teaching TOK I realized that 12 year old me had a point.

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