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Understanding Maps and Knowledge Representation

This document discusses the relationship between maps and the territories they represent. It makes three key points: 1) Maps are representations of spatial realities, not the realities themselves. Similarly, areas of knowledge attempt to represent bodies of knowledge but are not the knowledge itself. 2) Different maps can represent the same territory in different ways, and it is difficult to say one is "more accurate" without understanding the map's purpose. 3) Areas of knowledge like ethics and science describe or "map" different domains or "territories" of knowledge, but there is not necessarily an essential conflict between them if they focus on their own domains.

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45 views17 pages

Understanding Maps and Knowledge Representation

This document discusses the relationship between maps and the territories they represent. It makes three key points: 1) Maps are representations of spatial realities, not the realities themselves. Similarly, areas of knowledge attempt to represent bodies of knowledge but are not the knowledge itself. 2) Different maps can represent the same territory in different ways, and it is difficult to say one is "more accurate" without understanding the map's purpose. 3) Areas of knowledge like ethics and science describe or "map" different domains or "territories" of knowledge, but there is not necessarily an essential conflict between them if they focus on their own domains.

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THE MAP IS NOT THE TERRITORY

Medieval Tau-Omega
or T-O Map

What is the
orientation of this
map?

Why?

How does this


describe the territory
the map represents?
All maps are merely representations of a spatial reality, they
are not that reality!
Similarly, each Area of Knowledge attempts to represent the
territory of a particular body of knowledge. It is not that body
of knowledge but a representation of it.
Is this map accurate?
Is it more or less accurate than the previous map?
Can Ethics describe the territory of the Natural World?

Can Science describe the territory of Correct Action?

• Let’s continue the map metaphor


in the following slides….
Which map is better?
And?
What do you make of this?

Ammassalik wooden
maps are carved, tactile
maps of the Greenland
coastlines.
In these London maps can we claim, without knowing the purpose of the map, that
one is “more accurate” than another?
What portion of reality does this map describe?
And this one?
Here we see an image of the complex This next image is a system that attempts to
system we call a city. Let’s refer to the explain that reality. It is a representation of
first picture as a representation of the city, not the city itself, it is the MAP
reality, it is the TERRITORY .
KNOWLEDGE IS LIKE AN ATLAS, EACH AREA OF
KNOWLEDGE DESCRIBES OR MAPS A COUNTRY OR
REGION IN THAT ATLAS.
The Area of Knowledge of Map/AoK/Method World/Territory
_________________ ology
could be termed a map that
describes the territory of
________________________.
The Natural The Natural World
Is there an essential conflict Sciences
between the areas of knowledge?

How would you respond to the


assertion that when AoK’s remain Other Areas of ???????????
focused on describing their own Knowledge
territory there is no essential
conflict?
Networks of Knowledge

West Wing and Peters Projection

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