EP #13 | Knowledge, Communication & Curiosity | Jennifer Nagel

About this episode

The episode explores the nature of knowledge, its role in communication, and the curiosity that drives humans to seek understanding.

Humans are curious creatures who seek out knowledge about every aspect of the world. We also value knowledge to a great degree. Having a good education is very well-perceived and is a priority of many parents. We sometimes take pride in possessing knowledge, and tend to feel embarrassed when our ignorance gets put on display. More fundamentally, many of our social interactions require tracking what others know and signaling what we ourselves know. For instance, discussing politics with a foreigner might require extra care, as our knowledge of social and economic issues might be specialized relative to the contexts in which we grew up. If I learn that my interlocutor knows as much as I do about the political landscape of my home country, the interaction will likely become a lot more fluid. There is more common ground between us. What is knowledge such that it can play this role in conversation? What underlies our obsession with it? How do we develop the capacity to attribute knowledge to others and to understand them? Jennifer Nagel is a professor of philosophy at University of Toronto. Much of her work has been concerned with topics at the intersection of epistemology and the…

People in this episode

Hosts: Jay Richardson, Tanay Katiyar

Guest: Jennifer Nagel

Topics covered

• knowledge
• communication
• curiosity
• epistemology
• social interactions

Keywords

• knowledge
• communication
• curiosity
• epistemology
• social interactions
• politics
• education

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Toronto, Oxford University Press

Books & works: Knowledge, a Very Short Introduction

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