The problem of knowledge is one of the most relevant on which philosophy has focused. We could start with the famous Socratic expression adapted to our context, “Know thyself…as a skier.” Although we rely on knowledge to establish the foundation of our skiing, in reality, what does it entail to possess “skiing knowledge”?
Nothing is as common as knowledge in our daily skiing. To know this, we must be open to identifying the reality that surrounds us. We know many things: we know sensorially and we know intellectually; we know for ourselves and we know for others; we know accurately and we know by approximation; we know that we know and we know that we ignore an infinity of things. But how is this immanent process that takes place within ourselves about eminent things?
Skiing knowledge consists precisely in the union of the immanent with the eminent, in the association of the sensory and the intellective essence in order to understand the environs in which we move. Francis Bacon said that it is essential to know nature in order to master it.
At present postmodern times, we are witnessing a remarkable surge in knowledge, as a result of the rapid and universal dissemination of information through digital media. We are transitioning from the culture of the written word to that of the image; nonetheless, the written word remains the means of expressing thought. Although knowledge is nowadays beyond our grasp, instead of so much skiing knowledge, we need role models to enlighten us.
This endless search for knowledge allows philosophy, when it reaches an instance, to continue deepening new inquiries. According to the theory of knowledge, it is deemed true when things are elucidated as they truly are through the utilization of language. Therefore, knowledge in order to be such requires a language, and the limits of our language are the limits of our knowledge. But what is the value of skiing knowledge? Its significance lies in the fact that appropriate skiing knowledge leads to appropriate skiing actions.
We are aware of our capacity to nourish ourselves with the ways others ski, ways that express the meaning of all others’ skiing realities. To know is to join the other and appropriate the other differently from what we know, but most of us prefer to retain our own beliefs and opinions about what skiing is because we are comfortable with our prejudices and are resistant to the new and to being changed.
And what happens when someone develops an innovative skiing concept? If we adhere to our own conception of skiing, it becomes a framework and we cease to evolve. We must open ourselves up to the other, to someone else, but let’s keep in mind that, if we take the words of another as absolute laws, there begins the death of our independent thinking about skiing.
Skiing knowledge transforms us because we pass from potency to action, from not knowing to knowing. Dialectics is a form of knowledge and it refers to a methodical practice that is applied in the confrontation of two concepts so that a third one can later emerge, as a product of the comparison of theses, theories or contrary hypotheses.
Starting from a thesis (a position to be debated), an opposing one, known as antithesis, is formed against it. From this opposition, a synthesisemerges that resolves the contradiction. For instance, the thesis of to be a skier contrasts with the antithesis of being nothing; culminating in the synthesis of the unity of ‘being a skier’ and of ‘being nothing’ which is to become a skier.
Aristotle and St. Thomas posited that the human being was born as a tabula rasa lacking knowledge. However, it appears that no one is an empty vessel, as we possess innate organizations that serve as the foundations for our future learning.
In our case, although a beginner does not know how to ski, he or she comes to the lesson with previous knowledge of other daily activities or sports that provide elements such as balance, coordination and reflexes. The instructor’s goal is to bring to memory and use this previous knowledge with the purpose of adapting these abilities when sliding on the snow.
