common knowledge

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

common knowledge (uncountable)

1. That which is known by most people, and thus cannot reasonably be contested.
   • 1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados:

     A limited liability company is not subtle, Mrs Straithwaite. This one knows that you have insured a five-thousand-pound pearl necklace with it, and when it becomes a matter of common knowledge that you have had one answering to that description stolen, it jumps to the conclusion that they are one and the same.

2. (logic, game theory) A special kind of knowledge for a group of agents, such that when all the agents in a group G know p, they all know that they know p, they all know that they all know that they know p, and so on ad infinitum.

Translations

that which is known by most people

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 常識 / 常识 (zh) (chángshí)

• Danish: allemandsviden c, almenviden c
• Esperanto: ĝenerale konata (literally “generally known”)
• Finnish: yleinen tieto
• French: de notoriété publique
• German: Allgemeinwissen (de) n, Allgemeinbildung (de) f
• Greek: κοινή γνώση f (koiní gnósi)
• Hungarian: közismert/köztudomású/tudvalevő dolog/tény
• Polish: wiedza powszechna f
• Romanian: cultură generală (ro) f
• Russian: всем известный факт m (vsem izvestnyj fakt)
• Spanish: saber popular m, conocimiento general, dominio público (es)

special kind of knowledge for a group of agents

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 共同知識 / 共同知识 (gòngtóng zhīshi)

• Danish: please add this translation if you can
• Dutch: gemeenschappelijke kennis f
• Finnish: täydellinen informaatio
• French: connaissance commune f
• German: gemeinsames Wissen n, gemeinsames Vorwissen n
• Greek: κοινή γνώση f (koiní gnósi)
• Italian: conoscenza comune f
• Russian: please add this translation if you can
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can

See also

• common sense
• communis opinio
• conventional wisdom
• exotericism
• general knowledge
• idée reçue
• received wisdom

Further reading

• common knowledge on Wikipedia.Wikipedia