meaning & definition of knowledge-course-4

Course-4: Understanding Discipline & Subjects

1. Course-4: Understanding Discipline & Subjects Meaning & Definition of Knowledge Dr.G.Jaganmohana Rao Faculty in Education MITE, Kohima , Nagaland

2. Etymological Meaning of Philosophy: Philosophy is derived from two Greek words i.e Philos and Sophia Philos means Love & Sophia means wisdom Philosophy means Love of Wisdom, i.e search of truth and wisdom

3. Schools of Philosophy: Mainly there are four schools of philosophy Idealism Naturalism Pragmatism Realism Branches of Philosophy: Metaphysics (physical universe & Nature of ultimate reality) Epistemology (Nature and origin of Knowledge & Truth) Axiology ( Principles & Values i.e ethics and aesthetics) Logic (reasoning i.e Inductive & Deductive)

4. ‘Theory of Knowledge’ has been considered as a branch of philosophy known as Epistemology. ‘Epistemology’ comes from the Greek word ‘ episteme’ meaning knowledge and ‘logos’ meaning discourse or science . Epistemology is an area of philosophy concerned with the nature and justification of human knowledge. Knowledge : Knowledge is always concerned about knowing something. This something could be natural objects, man-made things, events, processes, persons, their activities, their relationships and many others. All of these and many other ‘objects’ of knowledge may, collectively, be called as phenomena. Therefore, knowledge always refers to comprehension of some or the other phenomenon .

5. Definitions of Knowledge : Plato examined three definitions of knowledge that were widely in circulation at that time. The three definitions of the knowledge are (as given in Encyclopaedia of Philosophy): 1. Knowledge is Perception or sensation; 2. Knowledge is True belief, and 3. Knowledge is True belief accompanied by a rational account of itself or ground. Plato defined knowledge as, ‘justified true belief ’ . John Locke defined knowledge as “the perception of the agreement or disagreement of two ideas”. Dewey (2010), knowledge denotes an ‘inference from evidence’.

6. Characteristics of Knowledge: Knowledge is an awareness or understanding of some one or some thing (facts, information , skills) which is acquired through experience or education by perceiving, discovering or learning It may be a theoretical or practical It can be implicit (Practical/expertise), explicit Knowledge acquisition involves complex cognitive processes like perception, communication and reasoning

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