Know How

by Jason F. Stanley

The goal of inquiry is to acquire knowledge of truths about the world. In this book, Jason Stanley argues that knowing how to do something amounts to knowing a truth about the world. When you learned how to swim, what happened is that you learned some truths about swimming. Knowledge of these truths is what gave you knowledge of how to swim. Something similar occurred with every other activity that you now know how to do, such as riding a bicycle or cooking a meal. Of course, when you learned how to swim, you didn't learn just any truth about swimming. You learned a special kind of truth about swimming, one that answers the question, "How could you swim?" Know How develops an account of the kinds of answers to questions, knowledge of which explains skilled action. Drawing on work in epistemology, philosophy of mind, ethics, action theory, philosophy of language, linguistic semantics, and cognitive neuroscience, Stanley presents a powerful case that it is our success as inquirers
that explains our capacity for skillful engagement with the world.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction

214 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2011

About the author

Jason Stanley is the Jacob Urowsky Professor of Philosophy at Yale University. He is the author of five books, including How Propaganda Works, winner of the Prose Award in Philosophy from the Association of American Publishers, and How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, about which Citizens author Claudia Rankine says: “No single book is as relevant to the present moment.” Stanley serves on the board of the Prison Policy Initiative and writes frequently about propaganda, free speech, mass incarceration, democracy, and authoritarianism for The New York Times, The Washington Post, Boston Review, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Guardian.

Reviews

[Marks54 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book about “knowing how” - to do something - as opposed to “knowing that” - about something. The author is a philosopher at Rutgers and this is a serious work of contemporary epistemology. I do not know what possessed me - my logic is rusty as is my Gilbert Ryle. This is a long way from Plato. The book is an extended argument for the case that specialized knowledge of “know how” is like other kinds of specialized knowledge albeit a bit different to account to personal situations, past experiences, and idiosyncratic conditions. I generally followed the argument and agree with where Stanley ended up - he is a fine writer, although this is not a general interest book.

The question comes up in everyday life in a number of settings - from professional athletes to top musicians, to most of our skills in navigating daily conversations and personal interactions. It also comes up frequently about teaching and education - “those that can, do: those that cannot teach”, for example. For those who are patient, the book takes on a wide range of arguments and objections to the position that “know how” is specialized propositional knowledge and works through them. It is an impressive work. It was a bit too specialized for me, I must confess and I would have appreciated it if the author had provided a few more examples and everyday language explanations. That is OK, however, and the book was worthwhile, although I cannot recommend it as a quick or easy read - it was not intended to be one.