ABSTRACT
In the preceding chapter we looked at the simplest points about the structure of our knowledge. The knowledge I was primarily thinking of was that contained in the various sciences. But people are inclined to think that the sciences are somewhat specialized; most of our active knowledge relates to the more diffuse, less specialized context of our ordinary life. The sciences are, however, convenient for my purposes because the claims we make there are usually meant to be simply factual. They are attempts to say how things are, how they work, without any other ideas or attitudes impinging on them. But much of our less specialized thinking is shot through with such attitudes or opinions. We can sometimes describe the world about us in a disinterested way - we can repon that the wall has been painted pale green - but most of the time our repons reflect somewhat more involvement or engagement with the issues - we might say that the wall has been painted a pleasant shade of green, or we might indicate by some other feature, intonation or gesture perhaps, how we felt about the matter.
