epistemology Epistemology (; ), or the theory of knowledge, is the branch of philosophy concerned with knowledge. Epistemology is considered a major subfield of philosophy, along with other major subfields such as ethics, logic, and metaphysics. Episte ...

, descriptive knowledge (also known as propositional knowledge, knowing-that, declarative knowledge, or constative knowledge) is

knowledge Knowledge can be defined as awareness of facts or as practical skills, and may also refer to familiarity with objects or situations. Knowledge of facts, also called propositional knowledge, is often defined as true belief that is distinc ...

that can be expressed in a

declarative sentence In linguistics and grammar, a sentence is a linguistic expression, such as the English example " The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog." In traditional grammar, it is typically defined as a string of words that expresses a complete thought ...

or an indicative

proposition In logic and linguistics, a proposition is the meaning of a declarative sentence. In philosophy, "meaning" is understood to be a non-linguistic entity which is shared by all sentences with the same meaning. Equivalently, a proposition is the no ...

. "Knowing-that" can be contrasted with "knowing-how" (also known as "

procedural knowledge Procedural knowledge (also known as knowing-how, and sometimes referred to as practical knowledge, imperative knowledge, or performative knowledge) is the knowledge exercised in the performance of some task. Unlike descriptive knowledge (also know ...

"), which is knowing how to perform some task, including knowing how to perform it skillfully. It can also be contrasted with "knowing of" (better known as "

knowledge by acquaintance In philosophy, a distinction is often made between two different kinds of knowledge: knowledge by acquaintance and knowledge by description. Whereas knowledge by description is something like ordinary propositional knowledge (e.g. "I know that ...

"), which is non-propositional knowledge of something which is constituted by familiarity with it or direct awareness of it. By definition, descriptive knowledge is knowledge of particular facts, as potentially expressed by our theories, concepts, principles, schemas, and ideas. The descriptive knowledge that a person possesses constitute their understanding of the world and the way that it works. The distinction between knowing-how and knowing-that was brought to prominence in

by Gilbert Ryle who used it in his book '' The Concept of Mind''. For Ryle, the former differs in its emphasis and purpose, since it is primarily practical knowledge, whereas the latter focuses on indicative or explanatory knowledge.

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Knowledge by Acquaintance vs. Description
Entry from the '' Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''.
Knowledge How
Entry from the '' Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy''. Knowledge {{philosophy-stub

See also

References

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