Knowledge

A throughline across Kyle’s reading is a distinction between two kinds of knowledge — rational fact-gathering versus skill development. Faith is Not Blind (the Hafens) draws it sharply: “There are two very different kinds of knowledge. One involves such rational processes as gathering information and memorizing. The other kind … we might call skill development.” Their key claim is that “the process of becoming Christlike is more about acquiring skills than it is about learning facts and figures” — and that “simply knowing something will not sanctify us.” They lean on Michael Polanyi’s tacit-knowledge argument that “to learn by example is to submit to authority,” picking up rules “not explicitly known to the master himself.”

Charlie Munger — USC Gould School of Law Commencement Address frames the acquisition of knowledge as a moral duty and prizes the “learning machine” who goes “to bed every night a little wiser.” Munger distinguishes meaningful, deep knowledge from “chauffeur knowledge,” and quotes T.S. Eliot: “Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?” The Faith of a Scientist adds the religious-intellectual angle — “an honest seeking after knowledge of all things of heaven and earth” — while warning (via the example of Aquinas weaving “very bad mechanics” into proofs) that systematizing all knowledge prematurely produces “a philosophy shot through with palpable error”; better to “start on it right now.”

Where this appears

• Faith is Not Blind — the two kinds of knowledge (facts vs. skill); becoming Christlike as skill-acquisition; Polanyi on tacit knowledge
• Charlie Munger — USC Gould School of Law Commencement Address — knowledge as moral duty; the “learning machine”; chauffeur vs. real knowledge; the Eliot epigraph
• The Faith of a Scientist — religion as “honest seeking after knowledge of all things of heaven and earth”; the danger of premature systematizing

Verbatim source notes — restored from Roam, 2026-09-21

• “Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants. And when he had begun to reckon, one was brought unto him, which owed him ten thousand talents. But forasmuch as he had not to pay, his lord commanded him to be sold, and his wife, and children, and all that he had, and payment to be made. The servant therefore fell down, and worshipped him, saying, Lord, have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. Then the lord of that servant was moved with compassion, and loosed him, and forgave him the debt. But the same servant went out, and found one of his fellowservants, which owed him an hundred pence: and he laid hands on him, and took him by the throat, saying, Pay me that thou owest. And his fellowservant fell down at his feet, and besought him, saying, Have patience with me, and I will pay thee all. And he would not: but went and cast him into prison, till he should pay the debt. So when his fellowservants saw what was done, they were very sorry, and came and told unto their lord all that was done. Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that adebt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors.” (Matt. 18:23-34)
• “Put your trust in that spirit which leadeth to do good—yea, to do justly, to walk humbly, to judge righteously and this is my spirit. Verily, verily, I say unto you, I will impart unto you of my spirit, which shall enlighten your mind, which shall fill your soul with joy.” (D&C 11:12-13; 76:5-10)
• “After ye have repented of your sins, and witnessed unto the Father that ye are willing to keep my commandments, by the baptism of water and have received the baptism of fire and of the Holy Ghost…and after this should deny me, it would have been better for me that had not known me.” (2 Ne. 31:14)
• “Knowledge comes by comparisons and contrasts. By light, we know darkness, by good we know evil; by successive competitive steps man moves into a larger knowledge. A person does not need to practice evil to know good. Evil is recognized by its effects without practicing it.” (John A. Widstoe)
• “Since no one can be saved in ignorance of the gospel, and one progresses only as fast as one gains knowledge, it follows that the person who gains knowledge will have ‘the advantage in the world to come.’” (BD: Knowledge (D&C 130:18-19; 131:6)