Talk:Common knowledge
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[edit] ...not citing its sources
Is it just me or is a bit ironic that the "common knowledge" article has been docked for not citing its sources? Shouldn't it be assumed that since this article is, in fact, about common knowledge, that its contents need not be cited, since they are common knowledge? Clarkefreak ∞ 19:12, 11 April 2007 (UTC)
- I put references. Pierre de Lyon 08:59, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Economics Definition of Common Knowledge
In economics, even if everybody knows something, it is not necessarily common knowledge. It only becomes common knowledge when every body knows that everybody else knows, and everybody knows that everybody else that they know, and so on, to the nth degree. This distinction is very relevant, particularly in social situations.
For instance, suppose there is a circle of friends, and one in the circle is a jerk, which nobody else likes. However, the friends do not know that the others do not like the jerk - they think they are alone in their opinions of him. This is the shared perception by all of the friends, and as a result they do not ostracize him from the group, as they would have individually. Then they have a conversation about several obnoxious things the jerk has done, and all the friends contribute to the conversation. Now, the jerk cannot get away with being obnoxious, since the friends no longer tolerate such behavior. They have developed a group consciousness. Though they all had identical individual knowledge to begin, they did not have common knowledge and could thus not act as a group.
I believe this idea should be accredited to Professor Shyam Sunder in his book "Theory of Accounting and Control". He mentions it in the first several pages, but I cannot properly cite it since I do not have a copy of the book with me.
--128.2.25.39 15:57, 28 April 2007 (UTC)
- Thank you for your comment. We do have an article dealing with common knowledge as its used in economics, logic, and computer science. Please see Common knowledge (logic). --best, kevin [kzollman][talk] 18:09, 28 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Common knowledge versus plagiarism
As a first year college student I am not well qualified to write on this subject but it certainly seems that a section should be included describing the issues of use/abuse of common knowledge in the academic research field. I will leave a couple of links here to illustrate and hopefully an editor more familiar with the issues will be able to add value to this article.
