ERIC Number: EJ931678
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Jul
Pages: 22
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1477-8785
EISSN: N/A
Public Knowledge and Its Discontents
Kitcher, Philip
Theory and Research in Education, v9 n2 p103-124 Jul 2011
Ideally, public knowledge should encapsulate the achievements of millennia of inquiry, making them available to individuals and groups for the promotion of their various ends. I explore the ways in which the actual situation fails to live up to this ideal. Our investigations are not always directed towards the questions of most concern to most people, the results on which experts agree are not always based on reasons the broader public is prepared to endorse, and the dissemination of information is so distorted as to make supposedly free discussion and debate an unproductive shouting match. The consequences for democracy are severe, since a healthy system of public knowledge, able to discharge its function, is an essential component of a flourishing democratic society. (Contains 13 notes.)
Descriptors: Role of Education, Knowledge Level, Democracy, Expertise, Investigations, Mass Media Role, Access to Information, Advantaged, Epistemology, Information Dissemination, Theory Practice Relationship
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
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Authoring Institution: N/A
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