Human beings are epistemically interdependent. Much of what we know and much of what we need to know we glean from others. Being a gregarious bunch, we are prone to venturing opinions whether they are warranted or not. This makes information transfer a tricky business. What we want from others is not just information, but reliable information. When we seek information, we are in the position of enquirers not examiners (Williams 1973: 146). We ask someone whether p because we do not ourselves already know whether p. So we cannot check our informant’s bona fides by seeing whether she is speaking the truth about p. We need grounds for trust. In What’s the Point of Knowledge? Michael Hannon maintains that this is the predicament that underlies the concept of knowledge. The we here is comprehensive. Evidently, every language has a word for knowledge. This, Hannon suggests, indicates that the concept of knowledge satisfies a universal human need. A goal, if not the goal, of epistemology is to identify that need and ascertain how it is satisfied. Following Craig (1990), Hannon argues that the point of knowledge is to enable us to identify good – that is, suitably reliable – informants. Let us call this the information transfer view.

中文翻译：

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知识的功能

人类在认识论上是相互依存的。我们从别人那里搜集了很多我们知道的东西，以及我们需要知道的许多东西。作为一群合群的人，无论是否有根据，我们都倾向于冒险地发表意见。这使信息传输成为一项棘手的业务。我们从他人那里获得的不仅仅是信息，而是可靠的信息。当我们寻求信息时，我们处于询问者而不是审查者的位置（Williams 1973：146）。我们问某人是否为p，因为我们自己还不知道是否为p。因此，我们无法通过查看告密者是否在讲有关p的真相来检查其真实性。我们需要信任的理由。在什么点知识？迈克尔·汉农（Michael Hannon）坚持认为，这是知识概念的基础。在我们这里是全方位的。显然，每种语言都有一个代表知识的词。汉农认为，这表明知识的概念满足了人类的普遍需求。一个目标，如果不是在认识论的目的，是确定需要，并确定它是如何满足。继克雷格（Craig（1990））之后，汉农（Hannon）指出，知识的要点是使我们能够识别良好的人，即适当可靠的信息人。让我们将其称为信息传递视图。