Knowledge and non-knowledge

Staats- und Gesellschaftswissenschaften

Stehr, Nico

Knowledge and non-knowledge

Stehr, Nico: Knowledge and non-knowledge, Science, Technology & Innovation Studies, 2012; Jg. 8 (1): 3-13 (download: http://www.sti-studies.de/ojs/index.php/sti/article/view/130/91) .

Originalarbeiten in wissenschaftlichen Fachzeitschriften mit Review-Verfahren

The polarization of knowledge and non-knowledge or ignorance has become a distinguishing feature of modernity. Nonetheless, as I will demonstrate in a sociological critique of these positions, it is theoretically and empirically unproductive to insist on an either/or, and to interpret non-knowledge as the opposite of knowledge. This contrariety only leads us into the abyss of an arbitrary, false, and also tiresome antithesis of rational and irrational, or of an unnecessary differentiation between believers and infidels. Undoubtedly, there are significant asymmetries of knowledge as a result of the social activity of individuals and groups. Knowledge represents a continuum. Knowledge is context-dependent. It is an anthropological constant that no one can and must know everything. The actually explosive sociological question is, therefore, how in modern society – under different basic conditions – we should approach the problems of the asymmetry of knowledge and, in particular, of knowledge deficits.

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