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Full Idea
Knowledge, as an abstract term, is a name for the product of competent enquiries. Apart from this relation, its meaning is so empty that any content or filling may be arbitrarily poured into it.
Gist of Idea
Knowledge is either the product of competent enquiry, or it is meaningless
Source
John Dewey (The Later Works (17 vols, ed Boydston) [1930], 12:16), quoted by David Hildebrand - Dewey 2 'Knowledge'
Book Ref
Hildebrand,David: 'Dewey' [One World 2008], p.59
A Reaction
What is the criterion of 'competent'? Danger of tautology, if competent enquiry is what produces knowledge.
Related Idea
Idea 22868 The value and truth of knowledge are measured by success in activity [Dewey]
| 22866 | Mind is never isolated, but only exists in its interactions [Dewey] |
| 22873 | Liberalism should improve the system, and not just ameliorate it [Dewey] |
| 22872 | Liberals aim to allow individuals to realise their capacities [Dewey] |
| 22869 | Knowledge is either the product of competent enquiry, or it is meaningless [Dewey] |
| 22870 | No belief can be so settled that it is not subject to further inquiry [Dewey] |
| 22867 | The quest for certainty aims for peace, and avoidance of the stress of action [Dewey] |
| 22864 | Philosophy is the study and criticsm of cultural beliefs, to achieve new possibilities [Dewey] |
| 22879 | 'God' is an imaginative unity of ideal values [Dewey] |
| 22877 | We should try attaching the intensity of religious devotion to intelligent social action [Dewey] |
| 22880 | The things in civilisation we prize are the products of other members of our community [Dewey] |
| 22878 | Religions are so shockingly diverse that they have no common element [Dewey] |