Common knowledge is information known or should be known by all, based on culture, religion, location, and group. It can lead to inclusion or exclusion and is related to conventional wisdom. Philosopher David Lewis divided it into factual belief and reason to believe. It can be used to insult or exclude someone. It is the basis for easy and medium-level questions on quiz shows.
Common knowledge should be information that is known or should be known by all. This can be information widely known by all mankind or it can be based on culture, religion, location and group. The idea is important for social life because it can lead to a feeling of inclusion or exclusion and isolation or acceptance. It is also related to conventional wisdom.
Philosophers try to distinguish between knowledge and awareness of knowledge. This revolves around the question of whether the information is known to each other. For example, Brad has 12 friends and tells each friend separately that they will meet at the cinema at 8. Each of the 12 people knows that she will go to the cinema at 8 with Brad, but no one knows who else knows this information. In this sense, time and place are common knowledge, but not mutual knowledge.
Some people believe, especially with younger people, that there are certain things everyone should know. Often, that knowledge becomes conventional or received wisdom. This means that knowledge is not always true. One of the toughest problems for governments and groups is dealing with myths, rumors and urban legends.
Sociology plays a role, because knowing or not knowing that information can determine whether someone is in or out of a group. Common knowledge can, therefore, be used as a tool to insult or exclude someone else. Using Brad’s example from above, Brad could use the split method to tell 12 people about the movie trip, but not tell anyone else. Since common knowledge is not known to each other, no one will pass the information on to the excluded individual.
Philosopher David Hume was the first to discuss the idea of common knowledge in 1740. David Lewis, however, was the first to introduce the term itself, in 1969. Lewis divided the idea into two distinct types: factual belief and reason for believe. Real belief is based on direct experience of something. The reason to believe is based on reading, hearing something, or having faith in some kind of knowledge.
In academia, students are required to cite proof of information stated in an essay or exam answer. This, however, rules out what is believed to be common knowledge. The names of nations or presidents of America need not be mentioned. Dates, quotes and more specific ideas must be demonstrated.
Common knowledge is used as the basis for a variety of quiz shows and quiz shows. Information believed to be known to most people makes up the majority of easy and medium-level questions on TV shows like “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” and “The Weakest Link.” Specialized and uncommon knowledge is used for harder questions with higher rewards.
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