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<strong>It</strong> <strong>is</strong> not the purpose of th<strong>is</strong> study <strong>to</strong> exeg<strong>is</strong>e the words of Donald Rumsfeld (US Secretary ofState during the second Gulf War) though they are worth repeating <strong>here</strong> <strong>by</strong> way of illustration:"As we know,T<strong>here</strong> are known knowns.T<strong>here</strong> are things we know we know.We also knowT<strong>here</strong> are known unknowns.That <strong>is</strong> <strong>to</strong> sayWe know t<strong>here</strong> are <strong>some</strong> thingsWe do not know.But t<strong>here</strong> are also unknown unknowns,The ones we don't knowWe don't know."(Rumsfeld, 2002)While the statement might be r<strong>is</strong>ible given the enormity of the context about which it wasuttered, it <strong>is</strong> a neat summary of the important challenges facing any enquirer at the start of theirlearning journey.In the formative stage of th<strong>is</strong> process I read widely in the field of ep<strong>is</strong>temology <strong>to</strong> find a solution<strong>to</strong> the question, "...how do we know what we know" <strong>and</strong>, indeed, how do we start <strong>to</strong> find outwhat we don’t know? (see Rumsfeld, 2002 above) That work indicated that <strong>some</strong> philosophersin the Western tradition (e.g. Pla<strong>to</strong>, 2004, Ayer, 1972) see knowledge as ex<strong>is</strong>ting in an abstractsense <strong>and</strong> ascribe <strong>to</strong> phenomena the definition a priori. Take for example th<strong>is</strong> extract from thedialogue reported between Socrates <strong>and</strong> another of h<strong>is</strong> d<strong>is</strong>ciples, Glaucon:“And <strong>is</strong> t<strong>here</strong> anything more akin <strong>to</strong> w<strong>is</strong>dom than truth?How can t<strong>here</strong> be?Can the same nature be a lover of w<strong>is</strong>dom <strong>and</strong> a lover of falsehood?Never.The true lover of learning then must from h<strong>is</strong> earliest youth, as far as in him lies, desire alltruth?” (Pla<strong>to</strong>, 2004, Book VI)31Simon Hughes Ph.D. Thes<strong>is</strong> (Oc<strong>to</strong>ber 2012)

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