It turns out that there’s a lot to know about knowledge. Last week’s newsletter took off from Simon Winchester’s new book Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge from Ancient Times to Modern Magic, my strategy being to move through various categories of knowledge. I mused upon what I called “practical knowledge” and “citizen’s knowledge,” the latter being the kind of knowledge necessary to navigate in our society, including the ability to take part in the kind of cultural conversation on which democracy depends. In the 1980’s, the literary critic E.D. Hirsch called this kind of knowledge “cultural literacy.” But there are other categories of knowledge, plus the whole subject of the transmission and accessing of knowledge about which I hope to add a little something to Winchester’s thoughtful and entertaining account.
September 22, 2023
September 22, 2023
September 22, 2023
It turns out that there’s a lot to know about knowledge. Last week’s newsletter took off from Simon Winchester’s new book Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge from Ancient Times to Modern Magic, my strategy being to move through various categories of knowledge. I mused upon what I called “practical knowledge” and “citizen’s knowledge,” the latter being the kind of knowledge necessary to navigate in our society, including the ability to take part in the kind of cultural conversation on which democracy depends. In the 1980’s, the literary critic E.D. Hirsch called this kind of knowledge “cultural literacy.” But there are other categories of knowledge, plus the whole subject of the transmission and accessing of knowledge about which I hope to add a little something to Winchester’s thoughtful and entertaining account.