Knowing

Abstract

If the goal of research is to come to know something about the universe, then we need to begin by having a clear understanding of what it means to know anything. On first exposure, this may seem like an absurd question. "Of course I know what it means to know ... I just know." Such a commonsense approach to knowledge seems reasonable until we encounter other people who don't just know the same way we do — which we constantly do — at which point we find ourselves needing to resort to providing evidence, making arguments, or sharing stories in order to either justify our own knowledge or to try to influence others to know what we know.