'Common Knowledge' c/o Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker's latest book When Everyone Knows That Everyone Knows...:
is subtitled: Common Knowledge and the Mysteries of Money, Power, and Everyday Life.
It is 'common knowledge' that caught my attention. In health care we seek common knowledge on several levels:
person (patient, client) 🠜🠞 healthcare practitioner (whatever their training)
carer - guardian 🠜🠞 healthcare practitioner
person / carer 🠜🠞 team
If we think about the referral processes, interfaces, gateways that people have to negotiate on their way to the above, you see how hard-won common knowledge is.
Critically, the knowledge may be 'common' but how accurate is it?
For the team common knowledge is essential to ensure safety, understanding and continually assessing risk.
In healthcare (and education) for person-centredness we take note of what data is available, but simultaneously begin with a blank sheet. ...
| 'Sometimes, though, private knowledge can no longer be contained even if it is desirable; sometimes something is so evident that it does not even need words to express it. The presidential debate brings to mind a joke Pinker tells about a man in the Soviet Union arrested by the KGB for handing out leaflets, which turn out to be blank sheets of paper. "What is the meaning of this?" they demand. The man replies, "What is there to write? It's so obvious!"' Kelly, p.9. |
orcid.org/0000-0002-0192-8965
