Full Idea
If we see knowing not as having an essence, described by scientists or philosophers, but rather as a right, by current standards, to believe, then we see conversation as the ultimate context within which knowledge is to be understood.
Gist of Idea
Knowing has no definable essence, but is a social right, found in the context of conversations
Source
Richard Rorty (Philosophy and the Mirror of Nature [1980], Ch.5), quoted by Robert Fogelin - Walking the Tightrope of Reason Ch.5
Book Reference
Fogelin,Robert: 'Walking the Tightrope of Reason' [OUP 2004], p.126
A Reaction
This teeters towards ridiculous relativism (e.g. what if the conversation is among a group of fools? - Ah, there are no fools! Politically incorrect!). However, knowledge can be social, provided we are healthily elitist. Scientists know more than us.