Page 28 - DCAP310_INTRODUCTION_TO_ARTIFICIAL_INTELLIGENCE_AND_EXPERT_SYSTEMS

Introduction to Artificial Intelligence & Expert Systems

Notes “Adequate grounds” may be a variety of things, including scientific evidence, widespread
perception of beauty and excellence in a piece of art, clarity and vividness in recalling something
in the past, and so forth. Different areas of knowledge will have different kinds of evidence
relevant to those areas, and when the evidence reaches a certain level, it becomes adequate to
provide the kind of support one needs to have knowledge of something.
Again, little more can be said in general about what counts as “adequate.” Only by focusing
carefully on particular cases can “adequate” be clarified.

2.2.1 Three Kinds of Knowledge

In addition to these three observations about knowledge, there are three different kinds of
knowledge:

Knowledge by Acquaintance

This happens when we are directly aware of something; e.g. when we see an apple directly
before must or pay attention to our inner feelings, we know these things by acquaintance. One
does not need a concept of an apple or knowledge of how to use the word “apple” in English to
have knowledge by acquaintance with an apple. A baby can see and recognize an apple without
having the relevant concept or linguistic skills. Knowledge by acquaintance is sometimes called
“simple seeing”—being directly aware of something.

Propositional Knowledge
This is knowledge that an entire proposition is true. For example, knowledge that “the object
there is an apple” requires having a concept of an apple and knowing that the object under
consideration satisfies the concept. Propositional knowledge is justified true belief; it believes
something that is true on the basis of adequate grounds.

Know-how

This is the ability to do certain things; e.g. to use apples for certain purposes. We may distinguish
mere know-how from genuine know-how or skill. The latter is know-how based on knowledge
and insight and is characteristic of skilled practitioners in some field. Mere know-how is the
ability to engage in the correct behavioural movements, say, by following the steps in a manual,
with little or no knowledge of why one is performing these movements.

2.2.2 Uses of Knowledge

It’s the information age, as the popular magazines keep reminding us. Our ability to generate,
classify, collect, and exploit data has grown exponentially with the advent of computers and
other technologies.
But how is this information to be used? After the supermarkets have scanned our rewards cards
to gather data on our buying habits, and the Web site purveyors have posted gigabytes of facts,
and the database services have made available every article written in the last 10 years on every
conceivable subject, what do we really know?
The Markkula Center for Applied Ethics has been grappling with these questions as part of
larger preparations for the conference “Ethics and Technology: Access, Accountability, and
Regulation,” held at Santa Clara University June 5 and 6.

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