Relating the Learner’s Knowledge to Public Knowledge

Abstract

This chapter explores the notion of pubic knowledge, and how it relates to an individual’s personal knowledge. It is argued that whereas personal knowledge can be understood in terms of the resources available to support cognition (as discussed in the previous chapter), it is more difficult to identify the possible locus of public knowledge, such as ‘scientific knowledge’ , even though much evaluation of student knowledge in research is undertaken with reference to canonic forms of knowledge. The chapter explores the merits of understanding public knowledge to be in some sense available through the scientific literature, but considers this possibility inconsistent with the analysis earlier in the book suggesting that such inscriptions are simply representations of someone's knowledge that only become meaningful when interpreted by a reader. Other practical difficulties with this perspective are also considered. The alternative notion that public knowledge is distributed, so scientific knowledge is found within and across the scientific community, fares better: but is also problematic if public knowledge is considered as anything more that an idealist referent - a kind of useful fiction.