Win-Win Situation

With arguments there is often a winner and a loser or both are losers. Very rarely are there two winners. What I will attempt to do now is to create a win-win situation when dealing with private and public knowledge. There are often arguments over what should be private knowledge and what should be public knowledge. At what point should knowledge be kept to the individual, rather than be given to all of society? The best possible win-win situation that I can come up with is that only the information that is a necessity for the better functioning of society should be the knowledge that is public, all other knowledge that does nothing to better or worsen the society should be kept as private knowledge. Take the previous example of President Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinski. There was no gain to the society to know all of the details of President Clintons relationship with Monica, all that was needed to be known was that the relationship had indeed happened. Because the information was pushed and Clinton lied, impeachment was considered, whereas had the details of the relationship remained private impeachment never would have become an issue.

Controversy of Private and Public Knowledge

Another event that is often debated on what should be private knowledge and what public knowledge should be is the President Clinton and Monica Lewinski. There is a lot of controversy on what was considered to be relevant to the public in the question of the presidency. President Clinton’s impeachment was being based on the fact that he lied about his relationship with Monica, that he did not have sexual relations with her where he did in fact have oral sex. His lying to the people of America is what was questioned on impeachment, therefore was it really necessary for the public to know about the extent of the relationship? If the impeachment was based solely on the lies, then if the specifics of the affair had been kept as private knowledge there would be nothing to include in the impeachment. It really was of no advantage to the society of the public knowing the specifics of the relationship. In this case there is a controversy over what should or should not be public knowledge.

Private and Public Knowledge in Art

Public knowledge is referred to as “knowledge by description.” Its function is to observe the subject. Knowledge is considered to be public when the proposition is true, when you believe that it is true, and when the is supporting evidence without any opposing evidence. Cubist Cat can be viewed publicly by all. When one looks at the painting it can be concluded that it is made entirely out of geometric shapes. The viewer may also conclude that the colors in the painting cover the entire visible spectrum and that the shapes are better defined by the black lined separating each one. As with everything there are both advantages and disadvantages to disadvantaged to public knowledge. Some advantages of public knowledge are that it can be proven true because it is based on what is real. Nothing is inferred about the topic, the only thing proven is what can be seen by all, like the painting being made entirely out of geometric shapes.
Private knowledge is referred to as “knowledge by acquaintance.” Its function is to duplicate and reproduce an experience or feeling. Some examples of private knowledge are belief, opinion and feeling. No proof is needed for private knowledge because it is different for each individual. When viewing Cubist Cat using private knowledge, one viewer may just see the image of a cat, whereas others may see something else. As with public knowledge, private knowledge also has its advantages and disadvantages. An advantage to private knowledge is that the topic does not just exist, but also has a meaning for each individual person. One viewer of Cubist Cat may conclude that the colors help to create a feeling of peacefulness, whereas another concludes that they create a feeling of serenity. Because private knowledge is different for everyone it is very difficult to define and express so that others will fully understand what the viewer is feeling. Private knowledge is not always reliable because the knowledge is different for everyone, and it cannot be proved to be true.