Chapter 133: theoretical vs. practical vs. experiential vs. factual knowledge

(academic vs. reality-based)

Academic consists of, “theoretical, experiential and factual knowledge.” Reality-based consists of, “practical knowledge,” attained through adrenal stress-conditioned training, practice and application. It is a interconnected whole of all four forms of knowledge that leads us to the type of understanding and conditioned memories that respond to various sensory stimulus. 

The four explained:

1. Theoretical: theoretical knowledge as such is possible even if the facts used to explain the fact under consideration are not themselves explained.
2. Practical:practical knowledge, knowledge of how to do a particular skill. Practical knowledge is a name applied to the knowledge required to do a particular kind of skill, but it can be reduced to other forms of knowledge.
3. Experiential:Experiential knowledge is knowledge of particular things gained by perception. These two elements are what make experiential knowledge what it is. This also means that skepticism takes the form of denying that perception is successful in some way.
4. Factual:Factual knowledge is an affirmation. When we take two concepts and add them together, then something is affirmed.

At the beginning, the martial artist begins by knowing nothing about how to apply martial skills. At the very beginning, the martial artist is given an amount of theoretical knowledge about martial arts. This includes such things as what the principles involved are and how principles are applied so they are properly understood. 

Now the martial artist knows in one sense and is ignorant in another. 

Next, the martial artist is told how to apply principles in kata. They may observe the teacher practicing and listen to the teacher give them advice on how to properly practice the kata. This will include such things as how to properly place one’ s hands in a defensive posture, how hard to hit the makiwara and which fingers to use when grappling. This is factual knowledge. 

Finally, the martial artist is told to practice, train and improve. By gaining experience playing, one learns. This is experiential knowledge. By the time the martial artist has mastered the ability to apply particular principles to multiple methodologies, they have gained some theoretical knowledge, some factual knowledge and some experiential knowledge. 

Suppose we consider the skill of applying martial arts to be more than simply practicing correctly. Those who have achieved a complete proficiency of martial arts also display an aspect of creativity.

Principled applied methods are not intended to be applied the exact same way every time. They are intended to be applied as best fits the situation. There is also an element of originality in application of principled-based methodologies for self-protection. So there are two sides to complete proficiency/mastery of a martial art. One side is doing things at the right time, in the right way and in the right circumstances.

This is just another name for the virtue of wisdom. It is not an aspect of knowledge, but a perfection of action. The other side is simply creativity itself. Creativity is simply an indirect expression of truth as that truth best fits the circumstances. It is not a special kind of knowledge either.