This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Common knowledge is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
 |
This article or section includes a list of references or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. You can improve this article by introducing more precise citations where appropriate. (August 2008) |
Common knowledge is what "everybody knows", usually with reference to the community in which the term is used.
The assertion that something is "common knowledge" is sometimes associated with the fallacy argumentum ad populum (Latin: "appeal to the people"). The fallacy essentially warns against assuming that just because everyone believes something is true does not make it so. Misinformation is easily introduced into rumors by intermediate messengers.
In many cases "common knowledge" is also widely established as being true. So then the assertion that something is "common knowledge", is merely another way of saying that someone is ignoring an obvious fact, or should have known about it had they been paying attention.
Many techniques have had to have been developed in response to the question of distinguishing truth from fact in matters that have become "common knowledge". The scientific method is usually applied in the cases involving appeal to and familiarity with the phenomena associated with astronomy, mathematics, physics, and as such to the general laws of nature. In legal settings, rules of evidence generally exclude hearsay (which may draw on "facts" someone believes to be "common knowledge"). To avoid undue influence from publicity on the neutrality of a jury, judges occasionally must order a change of venue. Journalists and other investigators of truth may seek a source closer to the facts, eliminating unreliable intermediaries.
That set of truths amenable, discoverable and convenient to use which have come to be known as such by an informed group of parties interested in their own general circumstances, the circumstances each of their own particular endeavours and studies, and the general circumstances pertaining to such studies and endeavours is called amongst them the body of common knowledge, and such informed groups being usually associated strongly by kinship, locality, nationhood or like primary affiliation and as are also numerous and inventive in such number then : "common knowledge" rightly is known, to be the body of common knowledge held to be as such within that larger group.
"Conventional wisdom" is a similar term, coined by economist John Kenneth Galbraith, referring to ostensibly pervasive knowledge or analysis.
References
- J-J Ch. Meyer and W van der Hoek Epistemic Logic for Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence, volume 41, Cambridge Tracts in Theoretical Computer Science, Cambridge University Press, 1995. ISBN 052146014X
- R. Fagin, J. Y. Halpern, Y. Moses, and M. Y. Vardi. Reasoning about Knowledge, The MIT Press, 1995. ISBN 0-262-56200-6
See also
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 12 August 2008, at 19:05.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Common knowledge".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.