KNOWLEDGE: a pragmatic and operative view
Charles François (2004). KNOWLEDGE: a pragmatic and operative view, International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics, 2(1): 1811.
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1811 ▶ |
| Object type | Discipline oriented, General information |
It would be quite irresponsible to broach such a philosophical problem as knowledge in a short and superficial way, while it occupies the best minds since 25 centuries.
For our purpose, “knowledge” is that which allows complex systems to sustain themselves and to act.
From this pragmatic viewpoint, B. ZEIGLER states:
- “A system ”knows about “a class of objects, or relations, if it has an internal'' representation for the class which enables it to operate on objects in this class and to communicate with others about such operations.
- “Thus, if a system knows about x, a class of objects or of relations on objects, it is able to use an internal representation of the class in at least the following ways: receive information about the class, generate elements in the class, recognize members of the class and discriminate them from other class members, answer questions about the class, and take into account information about changes in the class members” (1986, p.15).
Such an internal representation is a set of more or less elaborated models, acquired through a process of learning. As shown by numerous experiments, somewhat similar models seem to be already present under rudimentary forms even in inferior animals.
This leaves open questions about the degree of consciousness that must necessarily go paired with knowledge.