Знание и социальная субоптимаьность

One traditional subject in social epistemology is organization of cognitive labour. A meaningful discussion of this subject seems only to be possible in the presence of some assumptions that are intrinsically normative. It is so because most discussions of organization of cognitive labour focus on such questions as (1) "How 'should' a society organize cognitive labour?", or else (2) "What is an 'optimal' organisation of cognitive labour in a given society?" Both questions seem to assume that what is at issue is a problem of maximisation of a value. What kind of value is to be maximised? Well, it depends on what is taken to be 'the' main epistemic value. Typically, it is knowledge, or true belief, or some closely related notion. Interestingly, whenever the subject of optimal organization of cognitive labour is discussed, the discussion proceeds on an assumption that the society in question will benefit if the epistemic value is successfully maximised.