knowledge

Also known as knowing, awareness

thumb|upright=1.1|alt=Coin showing the owl of Athena|The owl of Athena, a symbol of knowledge in the Western world

OverviewAI-generated

Knowledge is a concept studied by epistemology, the theory of knowledge, the sociology of knowledge, and philosophy. It is partially coincident with understanding and experience, and is said to be the same as certainty. Learning, qualia, and revelation are contributing factors that cause knowledge. It also contributes to understanding and competence.

The subject is described by sources including The Catholic Encyclopedia and Gujin Tushu Jicheng. It is the opposite of ignorance and is different from Knowledge and Kila. Knowledge management uses this concept. It appears on the focus lists of Wikipedia:List of articles all languages should have and Wikipedia:Vital articles/Level/4.

In academic contexts, the PubMed query for knowledge yields a count of 1244488. The Vinony graph indicates that the topic is referenced by 1,530 other encyclopedia articles. Commons categories for the subject include "Knowledge" and "Knowledge".

Synthesized by Vinony from 16 facts across 3 sources: Wikidata, PubMed, Vinony graph. Generated from structured data (not the Wikipedia text) and checked against those facts — may still contain errors.

Research

1,244,488 papers

Metacognitive knowledge about self-control.ReviewCurrent opinion in psychology · 2024Hennecke M, Kulkarni PDOI: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2024.101861
Decolonizing leadership knowledge: Context, culture, and complexity.ReviewNew directions for student leadership · 2024Owen JE, Pacheco DR, Yamanaka ADOI: 10.1002/yd.20620
Dialectical Pluralism for Nursing Knowledge Development.ReviewCreative nursing · 2024Inayat S, McCaffrey GDOI: 10.1177/10784535231213843
Defining patient's experiential knowledge: Who, what and how patients know. A narrative critical review.ReviewSociology of health & illness · 2023Halloy A, Simon E, Hejoaka FDOI: 10.1111/1467-9566.13588
Engaging knowledge users in Canadian knowledge mobilisation research: a scoping review of research in education.Evidence & policy : a journal of research, debate and practice · 2023Sengalrayan B, Harvey BDOI: 10.1332/17442648Y2023D000000014
Global trends of local ecological knowledge and future implications.ReviewPloS one · 2018Aswani S, Lemahieu A, Sauer WHHDOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0195440
Building a Disease Knowledge Graph.Studies in health technology and informatics · 2023Rajabi E, Kafaie SDOI: 10.3233/SHTI230243
Exploring the dynamic functions of pastoral traditional knowledge.Ambio · 2025Chao O, Li X, Reyes-García VDOI: 10.1007/s13280-025-02131-x

via PubMed

~59 min read

Encyclopedic overview

24 sections

Contents

Definitions
Analysis of knowledge
Types
Propositional
Non-propositional
''A priori'' and ''a posteriori''
Others
Sources
Limits
Structure
Value
Science
History
In various disciplines
Religion
Anthropology
Sociology
Others
See also
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
External links

thumb|upright=1.1|alt=Coin showing the owl of Athena|The owl of Athena, a symbol of knowledge in the Western world

Knowledge is an awareness of facts, a familiarity with individuals and situations, or a practical skill. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often characterized as true belief that is distinct from opinion or guesswork by virtue of justification. While there is wide agreement among philosophers that propositional knowledge is a form of true belief, many controversies focus on justification. This includes questions like how to understand justification, whether it is needed at all, and whether something else besides it is needed. These controversies intensified in the latter half of the 20th century due to a series of thought experiments called Gettier cases that provoked alternative definitions.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “knowledge” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.