The unity of knowledge

It is common in epistemology to distinguish different kinds of knowledge: factual, practical, and objectual knowledge, which are commonly expressed by the ‘know-that’, ‘know-how’ and ‘know-plus-noun-phrase’ locutions. Some philosophers argue that either practical or objectual knowledge is not reducible to factual knowledge but forms a distinct kind. This chapter asks if these distinct types of knowledge are still knowledge in a recognisable sense; it asks, in other words, whether there is a genus of knowledge to which the distinct species of factual, practical, and objectual knowledge belong. The search for a comprehensive conception of knowledge in this chapter remains unsuccessful. Nontheless, I argue that anyone who believes in genuinely different kinds of knowledge will have a very good reason to try to succeed where I failed.