Editing There are unknown unknowns (section)

==Historical context==

As alluded to by Rumsfeld in his autobiography,{{r|Rumsfeld2|p=xv}} over two millenia ago [[Socrates]] considered known unknowns and unknown unknowns.<ref>{{cite book |title=Dangerous Science: Science Policy and Risk Analysis for Scientists and Engineers |first=Daniel J. |last=Rozell |date=2020 |isbn=9781911529897 |publisher=Ubiquity Press |page=48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9iTUDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA48}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The SAGE Handbook of Philosophy of Education |date=March 23, 2010 |page=304 |editor-first1=Christine |editor-last1=McCarthy |editor-first2=David |editor-last2=Carr |editor-first3=Richard |editor-last3=Bailey |editor-first4=Robin |editor-last4=Barrow |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FI02oTvjkV8C&dq=%22unknown+unknowns%22+%22socrates%22&pg=PA304 |isbn=9781446206973}}</ref>
Much later, [[Thomas Aquinas]] in his [[Summa Theologica]] also emphasized the important difference between recognized ignorance  and unconscious ignorance.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Nugent |first=J.B. |date=1967 |title=Ignorance |encyclopedia=New Catholic Encyclopedia |location=New York |publisher= McGraw-Hill Book Company |url=https://archive.org/details/newcatholicencyc0007unse_y2j2/page/356/mode/1up?q=%22unrecognized+ignorance%22  |access-date=2025-03-13}}</ref>

Rumsfeld's statement closely parallelled a [[q:Knowledge#Proverbs|well-known proverb about knowledge]]:<ref>{{cite book |editor-first=Tom  |editor-last=Sumner |first=Geoffrey K. |last=Pullum |author-link=Geoffrey K. Pullum |chapter=No foot in mouth |title=Untidy: The Blogs on Rumsfeld |page=28 |date=2005|publisher=William, James & Co. |location=Wilsonville, Oregon |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ITFxygayVrMC&pg=PA28 |isbn=9781590280478}}</ref>{{r|Saravanan2021|p=200}} {{Blockquote|<em>
  He who knows not, and knows not that he knows not, is a fool. Shun him.<br>
  He who knows not, and knows that he knows not, is simple. Teach him.<br>
  He who knows, and knows not that he knows, is asleep. Wake him.<br>
  He who knows, and knows that he knows, is wise. Follow him.
</em>}}
This has been widely quoted<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/familiarquotatio00bart/page/754/mode/1up?q=%22he+who+knows+not%2C+and+knows+not%22
|title=Familiar Quotations: a collection of passages, phrases, and proverbs traced to their sources in ancient and modern literature |first=John |last=Bartlett |date=1955 |page=754 |edition=13 |publisher=Little, Brown |location=Boston}}</ref> since the 19th century as (for example) an anonymous 
Persian,<ref>{{cite book |title=The Best Loved Poems of the American People |page=623 |date=1936 |editor-first=Hazel |editor-last=Felleman |publisher=Garden City Books |location=Garden City, New York |url=https://archive.org/details/bestlovedpoemsof0000unse_f7n3/page/623/mode/1up}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The American Citizens Handbook|page=371 |date=1951 |editor-first=Joy Elmer |editor-last=Morgan |publisher=National Education Association of the United States |url=https://archive.org/details/americancitizens00morg/page/371/mode/1up?q=%22he+who+knows+not%22}}</ref>
Arabic,<ref>{{cite news |date= 15 December 1885 |title=A Knowsy Proverb |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/1537072880/sem-2 |page=6 |work=The Globe |location=Toronto |access-date=19 March 2025}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/lifeofcaptainsir01burtuoft/page/548/mode/1up |first=Isabel |last=Burton |title=The Life of Sir Richard F. Burton, K.C.M.G., F.R.G.S. |date=1893 |publisher=Chapman & Hall |location=London |page=548 |access-date=19 March 2025}}</ref>
African,<ref>{{cite book |title=Daily Motivations for African-American Success |first=Dennis |last=Kimbro |publisher=Random House - Fawcett Books |location=New York |date=1993 |chapter= September 4: Sesame Street  |isbn=9780449223253 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LhfrupUOQY8C&dq=%22shun+him%22+%C2%A0%22teach+him%22&pg=RA7-PA4}}</ref>
Japanese,<ref>{{cite news |page=21 |date=6 February 1907 |work=Presbyterian Standard |title=Japanese Proverbs |volume=XLVI |issue=53 |location=Charlotte, N.C.|url=https://archive.org/details/presbyterianstan47pres_1/page/n184/mode/1up}}</ref>
Oriental<ref>{{cite book |page=55 |title=Learning support : a guide for mature students |first=Elizabeth |last=Hoult |date=2006 |publisher=Sage Publications |isbn=9781412902946 |url=https://archive.org/details/learningsupportg0000houl/page/55/mode/1up}}</ref>
or simply an old<ref>{{cite magazine |first=Margaret Sutton |last=Driscoe |date= 22 December 1894 |volume=27 |issue=51 |title=The Days We Live In |url=https://archive.org/details/sim_harpers-bazaar_1894-12-22_27_51/page/n10/mode/1up?q=%22he+who+knows+not%2C+and+knows+not+that+he+knows+not%22 |page=6 |magazine=Harper's Bazaar |access-date=19 March 2025}}</ref> proverb, or
attributed to authors ranging from [[Confucius]]<ref>{{cite news |last=Dixon |first=Michael |date= 16 April 1993 |title=A case of the worst sort of ignorance |url=https://archive.org/details/FinancialTimes1993UKEnglish/Apr%2016%201993%2C%20Financial%20Times%2C%20%231013%2C%20UK%20%28en%29/page/n21/mode/1up |page=22 |work=Financial Times |location=London |access-date=19 March 2025}}</ref> 
to [[Bruce Lee]].<ref>{{cite magazine |date= 1993 |issue=Fall/Winter |title=Bruce Lee: A Visit to the Grave |url=https://archive.org/details/grand-royal-01-1993-dregs-ia/page/n46/mode/1up |page=50 |magazine=Grand Royal Magazine |location=Los Angeles |access-date=19 March 2025}}</ref> 
The proverb is actually a close translation (with line order reversed) of [[al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi]]'s medieval epigram about the "four kinds of men", as reported by [[Al-Ghazali]] (1058-1111 CE),<ref>{{cite book |language=arabic |author-link=Al-Ghazali |first=Muhammad Hamid |last=Al=Ghazali |pages=87–88 |chapter=الباب السادس في آفات العلم وبيان علامات علماء الآخرة والعلماء السو |title=كتاب: إحياء علوم الدين کتاب العلم |date=June 25, 2013 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/KitabAhyaaUloomuddinKitabulIlmLiImamMuhammadHamidAlGhazaliArabicTextBookOfKnowledge/page/n85/mode/2up}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=Revival of the Religion's Sciences |translator-first=Mohammad Mahdi |translator-last=al-Sharif |first=Abu Hamed |last=Al-Ghazali |date=2011 |author-link=Al-Ghazali |publisher=Dar Al-Kotob Al-ilmiyah |location=Beirut, Lebanon |url=https://archive.org/details/imam-abu-hamid-al-ghazali-ulum-al-din-revivication-of-the-islamic-sciences-vol-1/Imam%20abu%20Hamid%20al-Ghazali%20-%20Ulum%20al-Din%20-%20Revivication%20of%20the%20Islamic%20Sciences%20-%20vol%201%20of%204%20%282011%2C%20Dar%20ul-Kutub%20al-Ilmiyah%29/page/115/mode/1up |page=115|isbn=978-2-7451-5945-8}}</ref>
which was later echoed in poems by [[Nasir al-Din al-Tusi]]<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/historyofiranemp0000axwo/page/n14/mode/1up?q=%22knows+that+he+knows%22 |title=A history of Iran : empire of the mind |last=Axworthy |first=Michael |date=2008 |publisher=Basic Books |location=New York |isbn=978-0-465-00888-9}}</ref> and [[Ibn Yamin#Categorization of knowledge and ignorance|Ibn Yamin]].<ref>{{cite book |page=315 |url=https://archive.org/details/classicalpersian0000ajar_t8t6/page/315/mode/1up?q=%22knows+not+and+knows+not%22 |title=Classical Persian Literature |first=A.J. |last=Arberry |date=1958 |publisher=George Allen & Unwin Ltd. |location=London |isbn=9780203985434}}</ref>

"Unknown unknowns" were occasionally mentioned in the 1950s and 60s.
In 1950, it was noted that sociology research was full of "unknown unknowns".<ref>{{Cite journal | url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23705367 | title=The research project: Its educational value and its contribution to social work knowledge| journal=Social Work Journal| date=July 1950| last=Gordon| first=William E|  volume=31| issue=3| pages=110–116| jstor=23705367}}</ref> In a 1962 commencement address, Nobel laureate biochemist [[Melvin Calvin]] discussed how humanity "must grapple not only with the known and the 'known unknown', but also with the vastness of the 'unknown unknown'."<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://archive.org/details/ucladailybruin40losa/page/n484/mode/1up |date=15 June 1962 |title=University Responding to Challenges |work=UCLA Summer Bruin |page=2}}</ref>

A related 2x2 grid was created in 1955 by two American psychologists, Joseph Luft and Harrington Ingham in their development of the [[Johari window]], a "graphic model of interpersonal behaviour"<ref>{{cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/ofhumaninteracti00jose/page/5/mode/1up |first=Joseph |last=Luft |title=Of human interaction |date=1969 |publisher=National Press Book|isbn=978-0-87484-134-3 }}</ref> that classifies knowledge about your behavior and motivations in terms of whether you or others are aware of those behaviours or motivations. For example, your motivation might be (un)known by you and (un)known by others.
Another similar<ref>{{cite journal |title=COVID-19: a knowledge and learning perspective |first1=Nicole |last1=Tovstiga |first2=George |last2=Tovstiga |journal=Knowledge Management Research & Practice |volume=19 |issue=4 |date=2021 |pages=427–432|doi=10.1080/14778238.2020.1806749
|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343874359}}</ref> classification scheme is the [[Four stages of competence|conscious competence]] learning model published in 1960, where a person's knowledge and skills are classified according to how (un)conscious and (in)competent they are.<ref>{{cite book |page=69 |title=Management of Training Programs |date=1960 |last1=DePhillips |first1=Frank A. |last2=Berliner |first2=William M. |last3=Cribbin |first3=James J. |publisher=Richard C. Erwin, Inc. |location=Homewood, Illinois}}</ref>