Knowledge Intensification

This chapter explores the notion of knowledge intensification in terms of the worldviews, the manifest the thematic knowledge that is being intensified, and the application of this knowledge. Knowledge intensification has both intrinsic and extrinsic processes, and can be connected with a theory of sociality traits, where the knowledge properties of an organisation affect the way it interacts with other organisations in its environment. 9.1 Worldviews and Knowledge Migration The capacity for a social community to create and use thematic knowledge for specific purposes can improve its viability by increasing its potential for producing thematic variety. Knowledge intensification is a process of learning that is dependent upon both internal and external conditions faced by the social community. Knowledge intensity has density and contrast. Knowledge density can be expressed in terms of the high degree of deep knowledge related to competence that a worldview holder has in respect of a thematic activity. Knowledge contrast implies knowledge within a context that is understood through the use of thematically different knowledge, and is effectively concerned with understanding the relativity of knowledge. Knowledge is manifested through the worldview of a person or a social community, and hence it central to knowledge intensification. It will therefore be of value to initially explore the notion of worldview. 9.1.1 Nature of Worldviews Worldviews are important for knowledge intensification since they manifest knowledge. This statement is explained through figure 9.1. This represents a recursive application of the autonomous holon as a fractal within the existential domain. It is a symbolic ontological representation that knowledge is manifested in an autonomous cognitive system through autopoiesis, guided by autogenesis. It supposes that the creation of thematic knowledge in a cognitive system is an autonomous process, and illustrates that knowledge intensification is a cybernetic process involving a viable holon. Within this model the worldview is represented as a virtual image within the cognitive system. Knowledge intensification also occurs through ontological and epistemological migration as discussed in chapter 2, and entails processes of self-production through some form of cognitive operative management. Understanding the epistemological nature of worldviews can provide an appreciation of how this knowledge can be manifested, and how the knowledge intensification process relates to it. Based on Yolles (1999), we posit a set of propositions about the nature of worldviews. They are as follows: • Worldviews locally manifest knowledge • Worldviews may be informal or formal. • Formal worldviews (paradigms) principally manifest secondary knowledge so that explicit statements exist about their propositions that enable everything that might be expressed about it to be expressed; they are more or less transparent to all interested others, subject to processes of knowledge migration