A person without ideas about the world will not be able to exist. Ordinary knowledge allows you to combine the wisdom of many generations, to teach everyone how to properly interact with each other. Do not believe? Then let's take a closer look at everything.
Where did the knowledge come from?
Thanks to thinking, people have for centuries perfected their knowledge of the reality surrounding them. Any information that comes from the external environment is analyzed by our brain. This is a standard interaction process. It is on it that ordinary knowledge is built. Any result is accepted for accounting - negative and positive. Further, it is connected by our brain with existing knowledge, thus accumulating experience. This process occurs constantly and ends only at the time of a person’s death.
Forms of knowledge of the world
There are several forms of cognition of the world, and each title clearly shows what is the basis on which everything is built. In total, there are 5 such knowledge:
- Mundane. It is believed that it is from him that all other methods of cognition of the world originate. And this is completely logical. Indeed, this knowledge is primary and is in every person.
- Religious knowledge. A sufficiently large percentage of people know themselves through this form. Many believe that through God you can know yourself. In most religious books you can find a description of the creation of the world and learn about the mechanics of certain processes (for example, about the appearance of a person, about the interaction of people, etc.).
- Scientific. Previously, this knowledge was in close contact with the ordinary and often flowed from it as a logical continuation. At the present moment, science has become isolated.
- Creative. Thanks to him, knowledge is transmitted through artistic images.
- Philosophical. This form of cognition is based on thoughts about the destiny of man, his place in the world and the universe.
The first stage of everyday knowledge
Cognition of the world is a continuous process. And it is built on the basis of knowledge that a person receives through self-development or from other people. At first glance it may seem that this is all quite simple. But this is not so. Ordinary knowledge is the result of the observations, experiments and skills of thousands of people. This baggage of information has been transmitted over the centuries and is the result of intellectual work.
The first step is the knowledge of a specific person. They may vary. It depends on the standard of living, education, place of residence, religion and many other factors that directly or indirectly affect a person. An example is the rules of communication in a particular society, knowledge of natural phenomena. Even the recipe that was read in the local newspaper refers to the first step. The knowledge that is passed down from generation to generation also belongs to the 1st level. This is a life experience that has accumulated professionally and is often referred to as a family affair. Often recipes for making wine are considered family property and are not told to strangers. With each generation, new knowledge is added to knowledge, based on the technologies of the present.
Second stage
Collective knowledge already belongs to this layer. Various prohibitions, signs - all this relates to worldly wisdom.
For example, many signs are still used in the field of weather prediction. Also popular are the omens of luck / failure. But it is worth considering that in different countries they can be directly opposite to each other. In Russia, if a black cat crosses the road, then it is believed that this is a failure. In some other countries, this promises, on the contrary, a lot of luck. This is a vivid example of everyday knowledge.
Signs associated with the weather, very clearly notice the slightest changes in the behavior of animals. Science knows more than six hundred animals that behave differently. These laws of nature have been formed for more than one decade and even more than one century. This accumulated life experience is used even in the modern world by meteorologists to confirm their forecasts.
The third layer of worldly wisdom
Ordinary knowledge is presented in the form of philosophical representations of man. And here again the differences will be visible. A resident of a remote village, who is engaged in farming and earns a living for this, speaks about life differently than a wealthy city manager. The first will think that the main thing in life is honest, hard work, and the philosophical ideas of the other will be based on material values.
Worldly wisdom is built on the principles of behavior. For example, that you should not swear with neighbors or that your own shirt is much closer to the body, and you need to think first of all about yourself.
There are many examples of ordinary knowledge of the world, and it is constantly supplemented by new laws. This is due to the fact that a person constantly learns something new and logical connections are built by themselves. When repeating the same actions, their own picture of the world is built.
The properties of everyday knowledge
The first point is unsystematic. A specific individual is not always ready to develop and learn something new. He can be quite happy with everything that surrounds him. And replenishment of everyday knowledge will occur sometimes.
The second property is inconsistency. This can be especially vividly represented by the example of accepts. For one person, a black cat that crosses the road promises grief, and for the second, happiness and good fortune.
The third quality is the focus not on all spheres of human life.
Features of everyday knowledge
These include:
- Orientation to human life and its interaction with the outside world. Worldly wisdom teaches how to manage the household, how to predict the weather, how to communicate with people, how to get married / get married and much more. Scientific knowledge studies the processes and phenomena associated with man, but the process and information are fundamentally different.
- Subjective nature. Knowledge always depends on the standard of living of a person, his cultural development, field of activity and the like. That is, a particular individual relies not only on what he was told about a particular phenomenon, but also contributes. In science, everything is subject to specific laws and can be interpreted unambiguously.
- Focus on the present. Ordinary knowledge does not look far into the future. It is based on existing knowledge, and it is of little interest to exact sciences and their further development.
Differences between the scientific and the ordinary
Previously, these two knowledge were closely intertwined with each other. But now scientific knowledge differs from ordinary knowledge quite strongly. Let us consider these factors in more detail:
- Applicable means. In everyday life, this is usually a search for any patterns, recipes, etc. In science, special equipment is used, experiments, laws are conducted.
- Level of training. In order to engage in science, a person must possess certain knowledge, without which this activity will be impossible. In ordinary life, such things are completely irrelevant.
- Methods Ordinary knowledge usually does not emit any specific methods, everything happens by itself. In science, methodology is important, and it depends solely on what characteristics the subject under study contains and some other factors.
- Time. Worldly wisdom is always directed at the present moment. Science is looking into the distant future and is constantly improving its knowledge for the better life of mankind in the future.
- Credibility. Ordinary knowledge is not systematic. The information that is presented usually forms a layer of knowledge, information, recipes, observations and conjectures of thousands of generations of people. It can be checked only by putting it into practice. No other way will do. Science, however, contains specific patterns that are irrefutable and do not require evidence.
Ways of ordinary knowledge
Despite the fact that, unlike science, worldly wisdom does not have a certain mandatory set of actions, you can still highlight some of the methods used in life:
- The combination of irrational and rational.
- Observations.
- Trial and error method.
- Generalization.
- Analogies.
These are the main methods used by people. The knowledge of the ordinary is a continuous process, and the human brain constantly scans the surrounding reality.
Knowledge dissemination options
A person can receive everyday knowledge in many ways.
The first is the constant contact of the individual with the outside world. A person observes patterns in his life, making them permanent. Draws conclusions from various situations, thereby forming a knowledge base. This information can relate to all levels of his life: work, study, love, communication with other people, animals, luck or failure.
The second is the media. In the age of modern technology, most have a TV, Internet, cell phone. Thanks to these achievements of mankind, there is always access to news, articles, films, music, art, books and much more. Through all of the above, the individual constantly receives information that is generalized with existing knowledge.
The third is getting knowledge from other people. Often you can hear various sayings on any action. For example, "Do not whistle - there will be no money in the house." Or ordinary practical knowledge can be expressed in the advice that a young girl receives from her mother when preparing food. Both examples are worldly wisdom.
Scientific and everyday in life
Everyday and scientific knowledge of society is closely intertwined. Science “grew up” from everyday observations and experiments. Until now, there is the so-called primitiveness, that is, everyday scientific knowledge in chemistry, meteorology, physics, metrology and some other exact knowledge.
Scientists can take some assumptions from ordinary life and look at their provability in the scientific community. Also often scientific knowledge is deliberately simplified in order to convey it to the public. Currently used terms and descriptions can not always be properly assimilated by ordinary people. Therefore, in this case, everyday and scientific knowledge are closely intertwined, which allows each individual to develop together with the world and use modern technologies.
On the Internet, you can often find videos where, for example, physics is explained practically “on the fingers”, without using complex terms. This allows to popularize science among the population, which leads to an increase in education.