I was recently reading a review of Donald Rumsfeld's autobiography. The reviewer cited one of his famous phrases; he quoted it as "unknown known." Now my memory was that the phrase Rumsfeld used was "known unknown" not "unknown known" and it got me wondering: is there a difference in meaning between the two?
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7 Answers
The full quote is:
[T]here are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.
That explains what known unknowns means: we know there are some things we do not know. As for unknown knowns, a philosopher by the name of Slavoj Žižek extrapolated to define this term: the things that we know, but are unaware of knowing.
So, in short, there is a big difference.
The quote is:
[T]here are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.
"Known unknown" implies there are things we know we don't know, while "unknown known" could imply things we know but don't yet realize the value. Thus, there is a difference in meaning.
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1At first I was confused since your answer is similar to drm65s, but an upvote to both of you since they were independent and clear.– simchonaJul 23, 2011 at 2:14
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1Strictly speaking my answer came in before drm65's, but his is better so he deserves the rep. :) Jul 25, 2011 at 14:38
Some people were keen to mock Rumsfeld's words, but they really are simple and easy to grasp. To avoid misunderstandings about any of the three combinations he actually used, Rumsfeld defined each one very succinctly immediately after saying it. I won't bother repeating the known bits.
You don't often hear the combination he didn't say – unknown knowns – because we find that one hardest to conceptualise. But I suggest that we have a particularly good example close to home here at EL&U. We all "know" a lot more about the principles governing correct usage of our mother tongue than we're conciously aware of.
This from "In Sleep", in William Logan's Sad-faced Men (1982)...
The stars madden, and satellites hum silently
Where no sound can awaken a sleeper. She dreams
A language which cannot trouble her, a vocabulary
Without voice. She has forgotten the ugly grammar,
The deformed sentences. She has forgotten
The irregularities of memory, the unknown knowns,
The can-no-longer-remembers, the slow impeachment
Of experience. She rises, stunned and serene,
Toward the promise of nothing.
answered Jul 22, 2011 at 23:59
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2I think the example you give of unknown knows is really excellent. Jul 24, 2011 at 3:18
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1@Fraser Orr: I thought of "unconcious knowledge of your own language" when I first heard Rumsfeld's speech years ago, and realised which combination was missing. But I only found the Logan poem a day after answering here. To be honest, I was kinda spooked to find the same idea there - particularly considering that was twenty years before Rumsfeld got the whole world thinking of such things. Jul 24, 2011 at 3:30
To go through them all:
Known known: Something we know and that we know that we know.
Known unknown: Something we don't know and that we know we don't know.
Unknown unknown: Something we don't know and that we don't realize we don't know.
Unknown known: Something that we know, but that we don't realize that we know.
A good example of an unknown known is when you can and cannot end a sentence with a contraction. First, did you know you knew that? Well, you do.
You know that you are allowed to say He smokes, but I don't. but you must say He's not as happy as I am. You may not say He's not as happy as I'm.
Now that you know you know it, it's a known known.
You also know how to order adjectives. Did you know you knew that? Well, you do. For example, you know you must say A pretty, green car. and not A green, pretty car.
You still don't know why you must do these things, but now you know that you know these rules.
answered Aug 13, 2011 at 10:22
Here's Rumsfeld's quote in question:
[T]here are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns – the ones we don't know we don't know.
If you read him carefully, he explains the meaning of each term within the context of the quote. - Known know: we know - Known unknown: we don't know - Unknown unknown: our state of knowledge is nonexistent
So. To take some real-life examples: The numbers of troops we have abroad is a known known. The numbers of insurgents is a known unknown. What they plan to do in the future is an unknown unknown.
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I would suggest that an unknown known is also "something we know, but do not realise is relevant to a specific issue (or specifically ignore in this context for other reasons)". For example, we're still having kids although the current world population cannot continue to grow at its current rate for ever - we ignore this aspect, treating it as an unknown contributor to known Global Climate and Resource problems.
Doesn't the Documentary itself define it in the sense of "there are things we thought we knew [knowns] but we were wrong and didn't realise [therefore unknown]" hence the unknown[incorrect or wrong] knowns
Its a bit of a convoluted way of saying " There are things we are wrong about" that suits the context of Rumsfeld's earlier quotes, playing with the
known knowns known unknowns unknown unknowns
