One general theory of knowledge supports a transactional perspective that defines literacy as relative and context-dependent. Exploration of this theory can begin by examining the relationship between metaphor and knowing, focusing on the underlying metaphorical nature of knowledge. If the constructionist, experiential, metaphoric account of knowledge and truth is accepted, then contention that such things as universal knowledge and truth exist must be seriously questioned. Kohlberg and Mayer, Lakoff and Johnson, and Carl Rogers offer three epistemological approaches that attempt to bridge the gulf between subjective and objective knowing and that acknowledge the nonuniversal nature of knowledge and truth. Their perspectives have much in common with those of the pragmatic philosophers. The pragmatic epistemology as expressed by Dewey, Mead, and Hook is an interactionist one. An exploration of the relationship between the experiential, pragmatic theory of knowledge and adult literacy leads to the contention that any attempt to understand adult literacy must consider all the perspectives of different communities and subcultures toward the functions and uses of literacy and ultimately the very specific perspective of the adult who functions within a specific community at any particular point in time. (Author/YLB)