IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/h/spr/kmochp/978-3-319-60657-6_1.html
   My bibliography  Save this book chapter

The Elusive Definition of Knowledge

In: Emergent Knowledge Strategies

Author

Listed:
  • Ettore Bolisani

    (University of Padua)

  • Constantin Bratianu

    (Bucharest University of Economic Studies)

Abstract

Knowledge is an abstract concept without any reference to the tangible world. It is a very powerful concept, yet it has no clear definition so far. From the Greek philosophers up to present experts in knowledge management, people tried to define knowledge but the results are still very fuzzy. This chapter has the intention of showing the most significant aspects of the dispute over the definition of knowledge, and the main conceptual barriers in that endeavor. In the first part of the chapter we discuss about the knowledge nature and the attempts made in epistemology to define knowledge. The well-known definition that knowledge is justified true belief is shown to have the limitations given by the justification condition and the truth nature. In the second part, we consider the metaphorical approach to knowledge explanation and we present the main metaphors used for knowledge in the managerial literature: knowledge as objects, knowledge nuggets, knowledge as an iceberg, and knowledge as stocks and flows. In the last part, we introduce a new paradigm of metaphorical thinking based on the knowledge energy. This metaphor opens new opportunities for understanding knowledge as a multi-field paradigm composed of the rational, emotional, and spiritual knowledge fields.

Suggested Citation

  • Ettore Bolisani & Constantin Bratianu, 2018. "The Elusive Definition of Knowledge," Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning, in: Emergent Knowledge Strategies, chapter 1, pages 1-22, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:kmochp:978-3-319-60657-6_1
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-60657-6_1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    To our knowledge, this item is not available for download. To find whether it is available, there are three options:
    1. Check below whether another version of this item is available online.
    2. Check on the provider's web page whether it is in fact available.
    3. Perform a search for a similarly titled item that would be available.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Piñeiro-Chousa, Juan & López-Cabarcos, M. Ángeles & Romero-Castro, Noelia María & Pérez-Pico, Ada María, 2020. "Innovation, entrepreneurship and knowledge in the business scientific field: Mapping the research front," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 475-485.
    2. Mabe, Franklin N., 2023. "Small-scale mining policies in Ghana: Miners’ knowledge, attitudes and practices," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(PA).
    3. Yang Cai & Youming Song & Xia Xiao & Wendian Shi, 2020. "The Effect of Social Capital on Tacit Knowledge-Sharing Intention: The Mediating Role of Employee Vigor," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(3), pages 21582440209, July.
    4. Pninit Russo-Netzer, 2023. "Building Bridges, Forging New Frontiers: Meaning-Making in Action," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(10), pages 1-18, October.
    5. Wided Ragmoun & Abdulaziz Abdulmohsen Alfalih, 2021. "Sustainable Academic Innovativeness: Towards the Understanding of a New Construct and the Development of Scale," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 12(2), pages 695-715, June.
    6. Hasan Fehmi Topal & Dexter V. L. Hunt & Christopher D. F. Rogers, 2021. "Exploring Urban Sustainability Understanding and Behaviour: A Systematic Review towards a Conceptual Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-33, January.
    7. Sajjad Alam & Zhang Jianhua & Jafar Hussain & Muhammad Usman Shahzad & Ahmad Ali, 2024. "The Inclusive Analysis of Green Technology Implementation Effect on Employee Knowledge, Health, Job Opportunities in the Production Houses," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 273-291, March.
    8. Kiessling, Timothy & Maley, Jane Frances & Moeller, Miriam & Dabić, Marina, 2023. "Managing global knowledge transfer: Inpatriate manager embeddedness and firm innovation," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(2).
    9. Gennady Shkliarevsky, 2022. "Is Our Research Productivity In Decline? A New Approach in Resolving the Controversy," Papers 2203.01235, arXiv.org.
    10. Lawrence Ayah Iruo, M.Ed, M.Sc, RN & Ransome Buloala, PhD, RN & Rosemary Ezekiel, PhD, RN & Deborah Alawari Pepple, BN.Sc, RN, 2023. "Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Cervical Cancer Screening Amongst Female Students of a Private University in South-South Nigeria," International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science, International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS), vol. 7(5), pages 1099-1113, May.
    11. Aldona Małgorzata Dereń & Jan Skonieczny & Sylwia Łukaszczykiewicz, 2022. "E-Learning as an Instrument for Managing Knowledge in the Field of Sustainable Development in a Chemical Company in Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-16, July.
    12. Syed Jamal Abdul Nasir Syed Mohamad & Nor Shahrul Nizam Muhamad Nor & Amily Fikry & Muhammad Ridzuan Abdul Aziz, 2023. "The Effect of Organizational Innovation Mediates between Knowledge Management Capabilities and Hotel Performance: A Conceptual Analysis," Information Management and Business Review, AMH International, vol. 15(3), pages 510-524.
    13. Chux Gervase Iwu & Abdullah Promise Opute & Olayemi Abdullateef Aliyu & Chukuakadibia Eresia-Eke & Tichaona Buzy Musikavanhu & Afeez Olalekan Jaiyeola, 2021. "A Structural Equation Modelling Evaluation of Antecedents and Interconnections of Call Centre Agents’ Intention to Quit," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(4), pages 1-21, April.
    14. Beata Świecka & Paweł Terefenko & Tomasz Wiśniewski & Jingjian Xiao, 2021. "Consumer Financial Knowledge and Cashless Payment Behavior for Sustainable Development in Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-18, June.
    15. Enjei Joan Tembei & Kibinkiri Eric Len, 2024. "The Integrated Project-Based Approach to Learning (IPBAL) and the Acquisition of Lifelong Learning Skills in Pupils of Government Bilingual Primary Schools in Mbouda Sub-Division," Journal of Education and Training, Macrothink Institute, vol. 11(1), pages 15-41, February.
    16. Tran Huy Phuong, 2019. "How authentic leadership promotes individual knowledge sharing: viewing from the lens of COR theory," Management & Marketing, Sciendo, vol. 14(4), pages 386-401, December.
    17. Ali Nazarian & Mohsin Shahzad & Xiangan Ding & Andrea Appolloni, 2024. "Do TQM Instigate Sustainable Development: Identifying the Key Role of Green Innovation and Knowledge Management," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 2499-2524, March.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:kmochp:978-3-319-60657-6_1. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.