ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the word ‘knowledge’, in order to make sure that one is not being deceived by language. It considers some of the common objections that apply to such views as Cook Wilson’s. The chapter, then, considers a more subtle objection, which is likely to give pause even to those who are favourably disposed towards the view. It shows that no direct proof of the view is possible, and proves it indirectly by setting out the absurd consequences that follow from the denial of it. On his view the activity of opinion involves the knowledge that it is not knowledge. There must surely be a parallel to this in the case of knowledge, though he does not say so, and the parallel must be that the activity of knowledge involves the knowledge that it is knowledge. According to Cook Wilson there is a stage between explicit knowledge of the universal and the mere apprehension of its characteristic being.
