New Anti-Intellectualism

"Knowledge-How" and "Knowledge-That" seem to be two different kinds of knowledge."Knowledge-How" is knowledge about "how to do something" and is generally considered knowledge that people applies to doing something in practice."Knowledge-That" is propositional knowledge.Proposition is true or false content when people judging things,while propositional knowledge is the true proposition believed by the subject after rational consideration.Since ancient Greece,knowledge has been thought of as "true beliefs plus logos",reflecting the cognitive content of the rational part of our souls.This view makes"Knowledge-How" has been classified as a type of "Knowledge-That",also known as "Intellectualism".Intellectualism reduces"Knowledge-How" to "Knowledge-That",not only limited to the propositional knowledge or some rules of truth,but also to the rational processing of propositions.Rational thinking is the key to knowing how to do something.Intellectualism is not only deeply rooted in epistemology,but has a deep influence on the philosophy of mind,especially Cartesian theory as representative,which further consolidates Intellectualism.However,Gilbert Ryle denies the rationality of Intellectualism by opposing the internal views of Cartesian theory,and formally proposes the position of Anti-Intellectualism.According to Ryle,Intellectualism confuses intelligence with intellect,resulting in reduction of"Knowledge-How" to "Knowledge-That".But having propositional knowledge is different from having intelligence."Knowledge-How"corresponds to the type of knowledge of intelligence;while"Knowledge-That" corresponds to the type of knowledge of intellect.If"Knowledge-How" can be reduced by "Knowledge-That",then each initiation of "Knowledge-How" requires the previous intellectual"Knowledge-That" activity,which will leads to an infinite situation of propositional thinking.Therefore,"Knowledge-How" should be an independent kind of knowledge.In addition,"Knowledge-How" is a kind of knowledge about ability that reflects intelligence,activity and disposition.It is mainly manifested in the ability to apply propositional knowledge and output it as a realistic tendency,which is not equivalent to propositional knowledge itself.People know how to do something not directly because of those truths and rules,but because of the ability to accommodate those rules.Ryle’s original views have attracted much attention,and have also been strongly refuted by Intellectualists.The intellectualism we are discussing today is modeled on the views of Stanley and Williamson.They argue that there are two basic presuppositions in Ryle’s Regress Argument:if someone acts,he uses the"Knowledge-How" of that action;If someone uses "Knowledge-That",he is thinking about the relevant propositional knowledge.The combination of them with Intellectualism will lead to an infinitely regressive dilemma.However,if the former is true,the action can just be intentional actions;if the latter is true,the action can only be unintentional actions,which results in the failure of both to be true at the same time.Therefore,Regress Argument fails.Besides,"Knowledge-How" is not necessarily related to ability.For example,an pianist knows how to play the piano after breaking his arm,but he lost his ability.In addition,they proposed a scheme of the reduction of "Knowledge-How" to "Knowledge-That",which is based on linguistic analysis and gave a new look to traditional Intellectualism.They think there are only superficial syntactic differences between "Knowledge-How" and "Knowledge-That",but they are actually the same kind of knowledge.Through the Practical Mode of Presentation,people can master some propositions of ways to act and obtain the corresponding "Knowledge-How".Stanley and Williamson used advanced linguistic tools to analyze "Knowledge-How",opening a new perspective for many scholars to study the relationship between them.I think there are many problems in Stanley and Williamson’s theory.The two presuppositions are a great misunderstanding of Ryle.On the first presupposition,Ryle thinks acting doesn’t mean having corresponding "Knowledge-How",and the key to judging it isn’t intention,but comprehensive factors about intelligence.On the second assumption,Ryle’s logic is if someone thinks about propositions,then he uses relevant "Knowledge-That",which is completely contrary to Stanley and Williamson’s assumption.Secondly,their interpretation of Ryle’s Ability Thesis reflects their superficial understanding of "ability".Stanley and Williamson use pianist case to argue that ability isn’t a necessary condition for "Knowledge-How",but the armless pianist doesn’t have a realistic disposition to export them and ability to do so.In addition,Stanley and Williamson did not specify what the Practical Mode of Presentation is,nor did they specify the relationship between "how to do something",the related propositions of ways and it.According to Koethe,the practical mode of presentation is to instantiate behaviors,but how to instantiate will fall into the infinite regression again.Stanley and Williamson intended to solve the reduction of "Knowledge-How" through the Practical Mode of Presentation,but the establishment of this concept included "Knowledge-How" itself,which is an invalid argument.Therefore,I take the side of Ryle on this issue.However,there is an obvious loophole in Ryle’s theory:where does "Knowledge-How" come from?Ryle believes practice is originating cause of "Knowledge-How",but he does not describe it in detail.I think it is very important to clarify this issue.If the origin of "Knowledge-How" comes from propositional knowledge,then the independence of "Knowledge-How" will be outlawed again.Through the analysis of the essential properties of"Knowledge-How" and "Knowledge-That",I find that the tacitness of"Knowledge-How" and individual particularity run counter to the verbal and universal nature of "Knowledge-That".This attributes of"Knowledge-How" can only be accommodated by practice.What’s more,only in the practice can the subject build up the ability related to the action and successfully output it into a realistic disposition.Therefore,"Knowledge-How" is not only ability which reflects intelligence,activity and behavioral dispositions,but also a practical ability.Practice is not only the source of "Knowledge-How",but also the necessary way to shape it.So I add the factor of "practice" into the connotation of ability to supplement and develop Ryle’s theory of Anti-Intellectualism.