Subject: Re: [IFETS-DISCUSS] Knowledge Defined
From: Thompson, Errol (E.L.Thompson@MASSEY.AC.NZ)
Date: Wed 28 May 2003 - 00:20:40 MEST
Date: Wed, 28 May 2003 10:20:40 +1200 From: "Thompson, Errol" <E.L.Thompson@MASSEY.AC.NZ> Subject: Re: [IFETS-DISCUSS] Knowledge Defined
I think you have misjudged what I have said. Your surgeon is working on
the current knowledge (or justified true belief) that is available in
the surgeon's field of practice. That knowledge is built up from the
study of the current evidence and practice of the current techniques
derived from years of research and practice. All of that research and
practice is the current justification for their current knowledge (true
belief). What is shallow or irresponsible in this view of knowledge?
Of course you may be reacting to the "belief" aspect. If you read the
literature on "justified true belief" in relation to epistemology, they
are not talking of believing something regardless of the evidence. On
the contrary, they are arguing that knowledge is "true belief" because
of the body of evidence that justifies the current accepted knowledge.
Polanyi says that we make a commitment to a knowledge perspective based
on the evidence or in your surgical example the results of practice over
an extended period.
However, I hope that your surgeon is also open to see new ways of
performing the surgery based on new evidence that comes from research
and practice. The surgeon operates today on the best knowledge and
practice that the surgeon currently has available. This is the surgeon's
"justified true belief". However, the surgeon knows that tomorrow based
possibly on what happens today, the practice may have to be adjusted.
The surgeon recognises the limits of his or her current knowledge and is
open to ongoing learning.
Just look at the changes in surgical practice that have occurred. Why
has it changed? Did past surgeon's act without knowledge or did they act
on the basis of the "justified true belief" (knowledge) of their time?
We are critical of past claims of knowledge which have later been proven
false. However, we need to look at those claims and say were they sound
claims based on the evidence of the time in which they were held.
Unfortunately, some where reluctant to look at new evidence that
challenged that understanding and rejected new knowledge options. By the
way this still happens today in some fields. I can think of a few that I
have seen rage in the field of Information Systems. Each group holds to
their view because of the evidence that they claim to have and the
assumptions that they believe are valid because of their evidence.
As I write this, I am thinking of those who argue for full requirements
gathering and design up front approaches to systems development verses
those who argue for agile methods. Evidence from projects suggests that
errors found in requirements or design in later stages of development
are more costly to correct. The first school therefore argue that the
solution is to improve the requirements gathering and design phases so
that these errors do not occur. The second school says that the
requirements will change over time because of the nature of doing
business. They therefore argue that the solution is to change the
development methodology to flatten the cost of change curve so that
changes can occur later without incurring the high cost penalty. This
second group has gathered the evidence for their claim to knowledge.
Which group has the correct knowledge base? On what basis will you make
the decision? Surely you will be looking for the justification so that
you can draw a justified true belief commitment to the knowledge.
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Errol Thompson
Information Systems
Massey University
Wellington
Phone +64 4 801 2794 x 6531
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