Editing Experiential knowledge

{{short description|Knowledge gained through experience}}
'''Experiential knowledge''' is [[knowledge]] gained through [[experience]], as opposed to [[a priori and a posteriori|a priori]] (before experience) knowledge: it can also be contrasted both with [[propositional knowledge|propositional]] (textbook) knowledge, and with practical knowledge.<ref>Philip Burnard, ''Counselling Skills for Health Professionals'' (2005)  p. 64</ref>

Experiential knowledge is cognate to [[Michael Polanyi]]'s personal knowledge, as well as to [[Bertrand Russell]]'s contrast of Knowledge by Acquaintance and by Description.<ref>Bertrand Russell, ''Mysticism and Logic'' (1954) Ch. 5</ref>

==A posteriori ==
In the [[philosophy of mind]], the phrase often refers to knowledge that can ''only'' be acquired through experience, such as, for example, the knowledge of what it is like to see [[colour]]s, which could not be explained to someone born blind: the necessity of experiential knowledge becomes clear if one was asked to explain to a blind person a colour like blue.

The question of a posteriori knowledge might be formulated as: can Adam or Eve know what water feels like on their skin prior to touching it for the first time?{{citation needed|date=May 2013}}

==Religion==
[[Zen]] emphasises the importance of the experiential element in religious experience,<ref>Dadid K. Reynolds, ''The Quiet Therapies'' (1982) p. 95</ref> as opposed to what it sees as the trap of conceptualization:<ref>C. Cheng-Chi, ''The Practice of Zen'' (1951) p. 71</ref> as [[D. T. Suzuki]] put it, "fire. Mere talking of it will not make the mouth burn".<ref>Quoted in Reynolds, p. 95</ref>

Experiential knowledge has also been used in the [[philosophy of religion]] as an argument against God's [[omniscience]], questioning whether God could genuinely know everything, since he (supposedly) cannot know what it is like to [[sin]].<ref>[http://www.philosophyofreligion.info/arguments-for-atheism/problems-with-divine-omniscience/experiential-knowledge/ experiential knowledge]</ref> Commenting on the distinction between experiential knowledge and [[propositional knowledge]], analytic philosopher and theologian [[William Lane Craig]] has stated in an interview<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.closertotruth.com/episodes/god-all-knowing|title=Is God All Knowing? &#124; Closer to Truth}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfhIkiT3g8A|title = Is God All Knowing? (William Lane Craig)|website = [[YouTube]]}}</ref> with [[Robert Lawrence Kuhn]] for the [[PBS]] series ''[[Closer to Truth]]'' that because experiential knowledge is appropriate to the [[mind]] which does the knowing, in order for omniscience to be a cognitive perfection God's omniscience must entail God know only and all propositional truths and have only appropriate experiential knowledge.

==Ecology==
Writer Barry Lopez writes about experiential knowledge and how it relates back to the environment,<ref>Barry Lopez, ''Arctic Dreams'' (1999)</ref> arguing that without experiencing nature, one cannot fully "know" and understand the relationships within ecosystems.

==Therapy==
[[Carl Rogers]] stressed the importance of experiential knowledge both for the therapist formulating his or her theories, and for the client in therapy<ref>Carl Rogers, ''On Becoming a Person'' (1961) p. 184 and p. 103</ref> – both things with which most [[Licensed professional counselor|counsellors]] would agree.<ref>Burnard, p. 64-5 and p. 78</ref>

As defined by Thomasina Borkman (Emeritus Professor of Sociology, George Mason University) experiential knowledge is the cornerstone of therapy in self-help groups,<ref>K. Humphries, ''Circles of Recovery'' (2003) p. 15</ref> as opposed to both lay (general) and professional knowledge. Sharing in such groups is the narration of significant life experiences in a process through which the knowledge derived thereof is validated by the group and transformed into a corpus that becomes their fundamental resource and product.

[[Neville Symington]] has argued that one of the central features of the narcissist is a shying away from experiential knowledge, in favour of adopting wholesale a ready-made way of living drawn from other people's experience.<ref>N. Symington, ''Narcissism'' (1993) p. 88</ref>

==Culture==
[[Helen Vendler]] has characterised [[Seamus Heaney]]'s art as, in one respect, recording an experiential learning curve: "we are earthworms of the earth, and all that / has gone through us is what will be our trace".<ref>Heaney, quoted in H. Bloom ed., ''Seamus Heaney'' (1986) p. 174</ref>

==See also==
{{Columns-list|colwidth=30em|
*[[Empirical evidence]]
*[[Experiential learning]]
*[[Human self-reflection]]
*[[Kierkegaard]]
*[[Montaigne]]
*[[Qualia]]
*[[Tacit knowledge]]

}}

==References==
{{Reflist|2|}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Experiential Knowledge}}
[[Category:Knowledge]]
[[Category:Concepts in epistemology]]