the poetics of common knowledge

"The common is given, but the common knowledge is not. It should not be confused with "common sense"–that is to say, the lore of compromise a culture builds up with its own ignorance. The common knowledge might be properly contrasted to disciplined knowledge. The domain of the common knowledge has no preexistence. It comes into being only when contingent beings come into contingent relationship. The common knowledge leads not to certainty, but to confidence of action." (Byrd, The Poetics of Common Knowledge, 23)