Knowledge is a very broad concept, since it refers to everything that can be acquired regarding what reality is like and, in essence, everything can be learned.
Although there are many things to learn and think about, every process in which new information is acquired has four parts, which are the elements of knowledge Below we will see what they are and we will give examples of each one.
Before going into its elements in more depth, it is necessary to briefly comment on the idea of knowledge, although its definition is somewhat complicated and depends on each person’s philosophical perspective. In fact, the philosophical branch that treats knowledge as an object of study and seeks to give it definition is the Theory of Knowledge.
Broadly speaking, knowledge is a spontaneous and instinctive phenomenon, a mental, cultural and emotional process through which reality is reflected and reproduced in thought. This process is based on experiences, reasoning and learning, which can be captured with a greater or lesser degree of subjectivity by the subject who tries to assimilate them.
Regardless of the type of knowledge to be acquired, in any knowledge acquisition process the following elements can be highlighted: the subject, the object, the cognitive operation and the thought or mental representation.
1. Subject
In every acquisition of knowledge there is a subject, that is, the person who captures information that constitutes reality, represented in the form of an object and, from it, carries out a cognitive operation to have an impression or thought about that object. In short, the subject is the one who knows new knowledge.
In a scientific research context, the subjects who acquire new knowledge of the world are the scientists themselves These researchers, through experiments and research, obtain results, which would essentially be the object of study. It is based on these results that they draw conclusions, which help shape science as we know it today.
Another example, perhaps clearer, would be to imagine a biology class. In it, the cell is being taught as a teaching unit and the subjects who must assimilate the knowledge related to that topic are the students.
2. Object
The object is what it is about knowing be it a physical object, a person, an animal or an idea, or any other thing that can be learned.
There is an interesting relationship between the subject, who learns, and the object, what is learned, since, when these two interact, they have very different effects on each other. While in most cases the object remains unchanged, the subject, by knowing this first, changes his internal world since you acquire new knowledge.
However, it should be noted that there are certain exceptions. An example of this would be in many scientific investigations in which the participants, who would be the object of study, change their behavior when they feel watched by the researchers, who would be the subjects (not in the experimental sense) who acquire new knowledge.
This is where we come in the idea of objective knowledge and subjective knowledge understanding this second as that knowledge acquired by the subject that differs from what the object of knowledge actually is like.
To understand it more clearly, regardless of what the object of knowledge is, the subject who tries to understand it may or may not grasp it in its entirety. The subjectivity of the subject is the abyss between the knowledge that he has acquired and the real knowledge of the object. Actually, reaching completely objective knowledge is very difficult.
Taking the example of biology class again, the object as an element of knowledge would be the didactic unit of the cell itself and everything that is explained in it: parts, functions, types of cells, cellular reproduction…
3. Cognitive operation
It is the act of knowing, a psychic processing that cannot be directly observed necessary so that the subject can know the object and have an impression of it.
It differs from thought because the cognitive operation is instantaneous while thought, which would be the impression in the process of acquiring knowledge, lasts over time.
Although this operation is brief, the thought resulting from the action lasts in the subject’s knowledge for some time.
In the example of biology classes, cognitive operations would be the actions that students would perform to assimilate the content, such as reading the textbook, listening and processing what the teacher explains, looking at the images of the cell… .
4. Thought or mental representation
The thought It is the impression or internal trace that is produced every time you meet an object It is what remains in the memory and is transformed into a series of thoughts that are evoked every time the object is glimpsed.
Thought, insofar as it is a representation, is always intramental. It can only be located in our mind, although we can express it through words or writing it.
However, the object can be located both outside our mind, that is, being extramental, and inside it, that is, being intramental. This is because an idea, political opinion or belief are also objects as elements of knowledge and can be studied by other people who will have their own thoughts about them.
As we have been commenting previously with the example of the biology class, in that case the subjects are the students, the object the topic about the cell and the cognitive processes would be reading the book, paying attention to what is said in class or taking notes.
The thoughts or impressions that the students had about the content would vary from person to person, which may have an emotional component. One person may think that what is taught in class is unnecessary, another may feel apprehensive about seeing cells, and another may be passionate about the small cytological universe.
Types of knowledge
Although the acquisition of specific knowledge involves the four elements explained, it is worth highlighting some differences depending on the type of knowledge to be acquired.
1. Empirical knowledge
Empirical knowledge are obtained through direct contact with the object of study, usually being something physical or objectively measurable. This type of knowledge constitutes the basic framework of laws and rules on which we intend to know how the world operates.
2. Theoretical knowledge
Theoretical knowledge is that which comes from an interpretation of reality, that is, in itself The object is an interpretation of something, whether or not it is external to the human mind Many scientific, philosophical and religious beliefs tend to be of this type.
For example, the idea of happiness is a mental construct, not something directly observable in nature, which, furthermore, depending on the current of psychology and philosophy, will have a different definition.
3. Practical knowledge
They are knowledge that allow you to achieve a goal or perform a specific action The object to acquire is an action, a way of behaving.
