Vulgar Knowledge - Concept, characteristics and examples

We explain that it is vulgar knowledge, its differences with other types of knowledge, characteristics and examples.

Fable morals like "The cicada and the ant" are part of vulgar knowledge.

What is vulgar knowledge?

It is known as vulgar knowledge, pre-scientific knowledge or naive knowledge to those ways of knowing that arise from direct and superficial interaction with the objects of reality .It can also arise based on the opinion of the people around us.

In both cases, it is constructed without any type of method or system of validation, analysis or rational demonstration. It is an empirical type of knowledge , accessible to all people equally, depending on the environment in which they live.

The Greek philosopher Platon (427-347 BC) was the first to formulate the distinction between vulgar knowledge ( doxa ) and formal or scientific knowledge ( episteme ).Already there was a need for some legitimation of knowledge, which allowed to distinguish between informed or educated opinions, from savages and ordinary, especially on matters that were of vital importance.

Therefore, vulgar knowledge is distinguished from other demonstrable, rational forms of knowledge because does not apply any method, no demonstration or validation system to achieve its results.It is only based on an opinion, in a feeling or in the repetition of (what has been understood of) something that has been heard over there.

Therefore, there is no guarantee that this type of knowledge is true or not, although well It can be used to provide solutions to immediate, concrete and individual problems.

It can serve you: Popular knowledge

Characteristics of vulgar knowledge

The term vulgar in this context does not mean rude, but popular, since it comes from vulgus , a term of Latin origin that simply means “ common.” It is a“ non-specialized ”or“ untrained ”type of knowledge , in a natural or wild state.

Due to its origin and lack of method, this type of knowledge is usually:

• Superficial , because it lacks tools to go beyond the apparent or what the senses can perceive.


• Subjective , because it is based on personal, emotional positions, far from a formal analytical character.


• Acritic , because it does not use a validation system to support itself.


• Social , because it is based on the popular and on sharing one's own and other people's life experiences.

Examples of vulgar knowledge

Prejudices can be part of vulgar knowledge.

Some examples of vulgar knowledge are:

• The sayings , which usually have some kind of teaching expressed through metaphors, parables or stories, but that enter a certain social "common sense".


• Pseudosciences , which are false or half-interpreted (if not overtly manipulative) interpretations of other more complex scientific knowledge.


• Prejudices , which sometimes come from the transmission from generation to generation, without having authority and without relying on the direct experience of the individual.

Differences with scientific knowledge

Vulgar knowledge is shared by everyone, within the community in which it lives.On the contrary, scientific knowledge is handled only in academic, specialized or school settings , which are not freely available to anyone, partly because they require training or initiation to be fully understood.

This brings us to the second important distinction: scientific knowledge is testable, demonstrable and reproducible , since it adheres to a critical and universal method: the scientific method.The vulgar knowledge lacks a method , in need of demonstration and of any form of systematicity, since it is not a form of organized knowledge.

Other types of knowledge

Other forms of knowledge are:

Continue with: Theory of knowledge