Declarative knowledge¶

Declarative knowledge, also known as theoretical knowledge, descriptive knowledge, propositional knowledge, and knowledge-that, is an awareness of facts that can be expressed using declarative sentences.

Version: v1 · 2026-09-28 · History
Domain-specific #: 8886
Domain group: Humanities
Origin domain: Philosophy
Subdomains: Epistemology, Knowledge That → Philosophy

Core Idea¶

Declarative knowledge is treated here as the recurring socialscienceshumanitiesarts identity summarized by this source-grounded definition: Declarative knowledge, also known as theoretical knowledge, descriptive knowledge, propositional knowledge, and knowledge-that, is an awareness of facts that can be expressed using declarative sentences. Declarative knowledge, also known as theoretical knowledge, descriptive knowledge, propositional knowledge, and knowledge-that, is an awareness of facts that can be expressed using declarative sentences. It is not restricted to one specific use or purpose and can be stored in books or on computers. Epistemology is the main discipline studying declarative knowledge.

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Knowing Facts You Can Say

Knowing that the sky is blue, or that dogs bark, is a kind of knowing you can say in a sentence. You can tell it to a friend, or write it in a book. That kind of knowing facts is called declarative knowledge.

Knowing That Something Is True

Declarative knowledge is knowing that something is true, like knowing that water freezes when it gets cold enough or that Paris is in France. You can say it as a plain statement, and it can be written down in a book or saved on a computer. It is not tied to one job or use; the same fact can help you in lots of ways. Philosophers who study knowledge ask what it takes for a belief to count as real knowledge. One old and popular answer is that you must believe it, it must be true, and you must have a good reason for believing it.

Propositional Knowledge

Declarative knowledge, also called propositional, descriptive, or theoretical knowledge, or 'knowledge-that,' is awareness of facts that can be expressed in declarative sentences. It contrasts with practical 'knowing-how,' such as a skill. It is not limited to one purpose and can be stored outside a mind, in books or computers. Epistemology, the branch of philosophy about knowledge, is the main field that studies it. A traditionally influential view says declarative knowledge is justified true belief: the belief is your personal commitment that a claim is accurate, the truth is an objective feature of the claim, and justification means you have good grounds for it.

Declarative knowledge, known also as propositional, descriptive, or theoretical knowledge and as knowledge-that, is awareness of facts expressible by declarative sentences, that is, knowledge whose content is a proposition. It is not bound to one specific use or purpose and can be externalized, stored in books or computers. Epistemology is its principal field of study, and one central question is its essential components. On a traditionally influential analysis, declarative knowledge is justified true belief: belief contributes a subjective commitment to the accuracy of the believed claim, truth contributes an objective condition independent of the believer, and justification connects the two. The concept is narrower than knowledge in general, since it concerns facts statable as propositions; merely using the label, citing a familiar example, or pointing to a downstream effect does not establish that something is declarative knowledge.

Scope of Application¶

Definition and semantic field. Terms like theoretical knowledge, descriptive knowledge, propositional knowledge, and knowledge-that are used as synonyms of declarative knowledge and express its different aspects.
Belief. One argument for this position is based on statements like "I don't believe it, I know it", which may be used to express that the person is very certain and has.
Others. According to causal theories of knowledge, a necessary element of knowing a fact is that this fact somehow caused the knowledge of it.
Types. General knowledge, on the other hand, concerns wide topics or has general applications.
Contrast with other forms of knowledge. All of them can be expressed with the verb "to know" but their differences are reflected in the grammatical structures used to articulate them.

Clarity¶

A clear use of Declarative knowledge names the carrier, the operative relation, and the conditions under which the source treats the identity as present. The minimal definition is Declarative knowledge, also known as theoretical knowledge, descriptive knowledge, propositional knowledge, and knowledge-that, is an awareness of facts that can be expressed using declarative sentences.

Manages Complexity¶

Declarative knowledge compresses multiple socialscienceshumanitiesarts details into a stable diagnostic relation. The source shows both the central mechanism—rather, it is grounded in the notion that people can acquire knowledge through communication with others, for example, by speaking to someone or by reading a newspaper.—and the practical consequence—through these representations, the person stands in a relationship to a particular aspect of reality by depicting what it is like.

Abstract Reasoning¶

Type the carrier. Identify the socialscienceshumanitiesarts entities to which the claim applies.
State the relation. Use the source-grounded identity: Declarative knowledge, also known as theoretical knowledge, descriptive knowledge, propositional knowledge, and knowledge-that, is an awareness of facts that can be expressed using declarative sentences.
Check operation and conditions. A similar process is described by John V.
Demand recognition evidence. Other suggestions are that the belief was caused by a reliable cognitive process and that the belief is infallible.
Test variation.

Knowledge Transfer¶

Within the home domain. Knowledge about Declarative knowledge transfers literally when a new case preserves the same carrier type, relation, and recognition test. Terms like theoretical knowledge, descriptive knowledge, propositional knowledge, and knowledge-that are used as synonyms of declarative knowledge and express its different aspects. One argument for this position is based on statements like "I don't believe it, I know it", which may be used to express that the person is very certain and has good reason to affirm this claim. Beyond the home domain. No canonical parent is asserted for Declarative knowledge.

Neighborhood in Abstraction Space¶

Declarative knowledge sits in a crowded region of the domain-specific corpus (39^th percentile for distinctiveness): several abstractions share nearly its structure, so a description that fits it tends to fit its neighbors too.

Family — Unclustered & Miscellaneous (2551 abstractions)

Nearest neighbors

Computed from structural-signature embeddings · 2026-10-08