"Kennen" and "Wissen"
Apr. 2nd, 2002 11:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
adrienmundi[clever subtitle: Hunger]
Definitions first:
kennen: know, be acquainted with (often used with a person)
wissen: know, have knowledge of (as in, to know as a fact)
I feel the necessity to explain my "critical perspective", such as it is here. Though probably not a surprise, I (over)privelege the intellect, particularly in my interactions with others. It is my primary means of contact.
It is my impression that the majority of others come into contact with one another through the lens of "kennen"; they become acquianted. This seems largely... passive? Not quite, but
there seems a polite patience, a sort of social contract of waiting.
I have encountered a few who seem to very much want to know/"wissen"-like, others. There is a palpable hunger to absorb all knowledge of another, not to devour (though I have experienced that occasionally), but to *know*, to enter in through the mind, the skin, words, etc., and discover another from the inside out. I don't believe this is possible, really, but I doubt it stops those compelled to try; it doesn't stop my efforts.
I find this hunger for impossible fact-knowledge very appealing. Not necessary, but certainly something to which I respond, favorably.
I have lost my focus. Hopefully sense will flow at another time.
Definitions first:
kennen: know, be acquainted with (often used with a person)
wissen: know, have knowledge of (as in, to know as a fact)
I feel the necessity to explain my "critical perspective", such as it is here. Though probably not a surprise, I (over)privelege the intellect, particularly in my interactions with others. It is my primary means of contact.
It is my impression that the majority of others come into contact with one another through the lens of "kennen"; they become acquianted. This seems largely... passive? Not quite, but
there seems a polite patience, a sort of social contract of waiting.
I have encountered a few who seem to very much want to know/"wissen"-like, others. There is a palpable hunger to absorb all knowledge of another, not to devour (though I have experienced that occasionally), but to *know*, to enter in through the mind, the skin, words, etc., and discover another from the inside out. I don't believe this is possible, really, but I doubt it stops those compelled to try; it doesn't stop my efforts.
I find this hunger for impossible fact-knowledge very appealing. Not necessary, but certainly something to which I respond, favorably.
I have lost my focus. Hopefully sense will flow at another time.
no subject
Date: 2002-04-08 10:02 am (UTC)I'm looking into Alliance Francais for instruction for the Romantically challenged for the summer; maybe you'll be the lucky recipient of my kindergarten level fumblings (Mon crayon est gran! (thanks to "Gotcha", one of the few sentences I can say in French, also notable for the first onscreen credit for Linda Fiorentino) )