On Knowledge — Some Thoughts and Opportunities

Abstract

Knowledge is at the heart of the academy and is its raison d’être. There is therefore an extremely extensive literature on what should be accepted, and why, as more valuable than opinion, confusion, speculation and manipulation, or insights that are personal to one individual or context. What makes one interpretation or set of claims more truthful or trustworthy than another? This process of testing is central to the doctoral viva of which the last chapter gave one account. Understanding this subject is a deeper and more rewarding challenge than understanding what kind of dragons guard the entrance to a cave, because what is ‘getting past the dragons’ is making the cave a specially worthwhile destination.