> *知识的目的就是了解.*
> *你需要知识来定义它.*
> *因此，知识已经实现了它的目的。*
十月2024，我再次遇到了一句归功于亚里士多德的名言：“知识的目的就是行动，而不是知识。”
Something about it felt fundamentally wrong. It was trying to assert something at the foundations of philosophy, and immediately while considering it, I realized it wasn't true.
亚里士多德的*尼科马可伦理学*（Book 1, 1095a）中的原句是：“所追求的目的不是知识，而是行动。” 广为流传的版本是一段误引.
答案从一个简单的序列中出现：知识没有强制性. 在哲学基础上把事物拟人化会造成混淆，而非清晰. 随后，反射循环显现：你需要知识来定义知识. 就是这样——完成发生在自身的知道中.
## Why This Matters at Foundations
When we treat a *state* (knowledge) as if it were an *agent* (with purposes, drives, imperatives), we get the ontology wrong at the foundation.
This error propagates:
1. "Knowledge seeks truth" → attributes agency to a state
2. "Knowledge exists for action" → attributes agent purposes to knowledge
3. "Those who pursue knowledge without action are failing" → builds doctrine on the error
But knowledge has no purposes to serve. Only agents have purposes. Knowledge simply *is* the state of knowing—completion through being what it is.
**Getting this right matters:**
If the foundation is clear—knowledge completes in knowing—then we can focus on what actually varies: *how agents pursue knowing*. The methods, the means, the ways people learn and come to understanding.
The clarity doesn't diminish the importance of action, application, or methods. It reveals them for what they are: what *agents do* from the ground of knowing. With the foundation clear, we can have better conversations about the pursuit itself.
**On certainty and confirmation:**
When you know something, knowledge is complete for that knowing. Whether you're *certain* you know is a different question—that's about your confidence as an agent, not knowledge's nature. Certainty is knowing that you know, which presupposes knowing.
Science confirms findings 100 times. That's method—agents pursuing certainty about whether they've achieved knowing. The confirmations serve the agent's need for justified belief. They don't complete knowledge; they help agents become certain they've achieved the state of knowing.
知识的目的在于了解
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