There's knowledge, and then there's metaknowledge — knowledge about knowledge, that is. Array the possibilities in a two-by-two matrix and you get four situations (inspired by JP's recent talk):
- You know what you know — a normal form of understanding, useful in normal circumstances
- You don't know what you should have known — suggesting a problem in thinking (e.g., clues were there and you overlooked them)
- You don't know what can be known — a typical journeyman's state of ignorance about the possible
- You know what you don't know — the master's awareness of the limitations of knowledge ... indicative of enlightenment
But real wisdom has yet another dimension:
- You know what you don't need to know — so you can focus on the critical aspects of a situation, and pay no attention to irrelevancies
TopicPhilosophy - TopicThinking - 2001-08-29
(correlates: ThirdNormalForm, SolublesInsolubles, FreeAction, ...)