Abel: The Basis of Knowledge

How does Bertrand Russell differentiate between "knowledge by acqauintance" and "knowledge by description? "Knowledge by acquaintance" is "direct and immediate and consists of 'raw feels.' We are acquainted with a person, or with a place, or with a food." "knowledge by description" is "knowledge of a fact."

How does Abel distinguish between "knowing how" and "knowing that"? "Knowing how" is "[unable] to describe[d in] exactly how one does things." "Knowing that" is "propositional" and can be explained precisely, and "can be computerized."

What does he mean when he asks "can knowing how theoretically always be reduced to knowing that?" What is Abel's answer? What do you think? He means can knowing how to do something be "articulated precisely in propositions, and formulated as a computer program." Abel's answer is "knowing how to do these things perhaps cannot be fully specified in propositional knowing that."  I agree with Abel. I believe that there are some things that can't be put into exact, specific, propositions and computerized.

How does language become a problem of knowledge? Language becomes a problem of knowledge when our language cannot effectively communicate our ideas and what we know, to ourselves and to others.

What do you think William James means when he says: "life defies our phrases?" I think he means that life changes, is mysterious and continuous, and our phrases cannot fully describe it. I understand this from his words, "Life defies our phrases...it is infinitely continuous and subtle and shaded,, whilst our verbal terms are discrete, rude, and few..."

What, according to Abel, is the difference between "experience" and "propositional knowledge"? "Experience is a very wide philosophical term:it includes everything we do and everything that happens to us." "Propositional Knowledge," according to Abel, "is not the function to duplicate knowledge, but to describe it."

What are Abel's Four Conditions for propositional knowledge? Where have we seen this before? Why does he add a Fourth Condition? The Four Conditions are "1. That p [any propositions]be true...2. That I believe that p....That I have good reasons, or sufficient evidence  for my belief that p; my belief must be justified...4. That i have no other evidence that might undermine my belief." We have seen this before in our discussions about the types of knowledge. He adds a Fourth Condition because  it is necessary to make it a justified, true belief.

What are Abel's Nine Good Reasons or Evidence which serves as the Basis of Knowledge?

1. Sense Perception-evidence for our knowledge of the world. I know what Africa is shaped like because I've seen it on different maps, and it looks the same.

2. Logic-the basis of our analytical knowledge. I know that two plus two is four because if i have two apples and my sister has two apples, and she gives me her apples, than I have four apples.

3. Intuition-inner convictions of certainty. I know that it is wrong to steal because my intuition tells me so.

4. Self-awareness-knowing one's own "'self-presenting' states." I know I am tired because I feel like I'm about to fall asleep. 

5. Memory-knowledge of the past. I know that I went to school yesterday, because I remember  it.

6. Authority-a knowledgeable source passing on their knowledge. I know that there is magma in the center of the Earth, because the geologists said so.

7. Consensus Gentium-common knowledge. I know that Kirby is weird because everyone says he is.

8. Revelation-God revealing something. I know that there will be a flood, and I need to build an ark, because God told me.

9. Faith-not knowledge! relying on belief, which is a requisite for knowledge, but not a guarantee of it. I knew that I would go to heaven when I died, because I had faith that I did God's work during my life.