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Concept

Knowledge by acquaintance

Knowledge by acquaintance
The original uploader was Magnus Manske at English Wikipedia. Later versions were uploaded by Optimager at en.wikipedia. · Public domain · source

Overview

Bertrand Russell makes a distinction between two different kinds of knowledge: knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description. Whereas knowledge by description is something like ordinary propositional knowledge (I. E. "I know that snow is white"), knowledge by acquaintance is familiarity with a person, place, or thing, typically obtained through perceptual experience (e.g. "I know Sam", "I know the city of Bogotá", or "I know Russell's Problems of Philosophy"). According to Bertrand Russell's classic account of acquaintance knowledge, acquaintance is a direct causal interaction between a person and an object of experience.

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Possible passages

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  1. The chief importance of knowledge by description is that it enables us to pass beyond the limits of our private experience. In spite of the fact that we can only know truths which are wholly composed of terms which we have experienced in acquaintance, we can yet have knowledge by description of things which we have never experienced. In view of the very narrow range of our immediate experience, this result is vital…

    Bertrand Russell, The Problems of Philosophy

    The chapter “CHAPTER V. KNOWLEDGE BY ACQUAINTANCE AND KNOWLEDGE BY DESCR…” is titled for Knowledge by acquaintance; states what Knowledge by acquaintance is.

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  2. To sum up our whole discussion. We began by distinguishing two sorts of knowledge of objects, namely, knowledge by _acquaintance_ and knowledge by _description_. Of these it is only the former that brings the object itself before the mind. We have acquaintance with sense-data, with many universals, and possibly with ourselves, but not with physical objects or other minds.

    Bertrand Russell, Mysticism and Logic and Other Essays

    The chapter “KNOWLEDGE BY ACQUAINTANCE AND KNOWLEDGE BY DESCRIPTION” is titled for Knowledge by acquaintance; the author is tied to Knowledge by acquaintance in the knowledge graph.

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  3. In minds able to speak at all there is, it is true, _some_ knowledge about everything. Things can at least be classed, and the times of their appearance told. But in general, the less we analyze a thing, and the fewer of its relations we perceive, the less we know about it and the more our familiarity with it is of the acquaintance-type. The two kinds of knowledge are, therefore, as the human mind practically exerts…

    William James, The Principles of Psychology, Volume 1

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Related ideas

Opposing perspectives

Place in the tradition

Part of Analytic philosophy.

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