There is a surprisingly large degree of variation between knowing something and knowing something. Unfortunately, the english verb “to know” doesn’t have enough dimensionsality to express all this variation. Knowing is simple awareness. While knowing is something deeper.

A couple terms I enjoy that express the degrees in this variation:

  • qualia is kind of an experiential knowledge. I can tell you that a particular strawberry is sweet, but qualia is tasting that sweetness for yourself.

  • ginōskō is an intimate relational knowledge transcending factual awareness. It is often used in the Bible as an intimate description of sex - one person literally knows another.

I’m sure I’ll stumble upon more over time and add them to this list.

I’m also using this idea of words needing more dimensions as a recurring post category.