Dear Marion,

Whatever objective knowledge I acquire, literally
becomes a part of me, modifies, if you like, the
structure of neurons in my brain, their biochemistry
or their biophysics, enabling me to action of which I 
would otherwise have been incapable. A simple humble
example: I become familiar with a city. I acquire
knowledge of the streets, the intersections, the means of
transportation, the subways, the streetcars and busses,
the airport, the train stations, together with the schedules
of busses, subways, planes and trains, knowledge which
makes it possible to travel from one place to another,
and not least, to find my way home. Obviously there
is room for error. I may misunderstand; I may make mistakes;
I may get lost; and in the worst case, my error may cost
me my life.

Understood in this manner, I think, the knowledge of a
city is paradigmatic of all other knowledge. The meaning
and the value of that knowledge is its meaning and value
to me, not because I am egoistic or egocentric, but because
just as my thought cannot escape my mind, so my knowledge 
can have meaning only in the context of my life. Knowledge
has meaning only as my knowledge, be it actual or potential.
I do not argue that there is no value in writing a textbook
or a monograph, - a scholarly account, purporting to set forth
an impersonal account of "knowledge", - of what is known
generally, of what incidentally is also known by myself.
All I would argue is that this monograph, this textbook,
again becomes meaningful in whole or in part by being
"understood", by being integrated into the conceptual
world of the individual who uses it.

My point is that knowledge should not be considered a set
of propositions, a static compilation of "facts" but a 
dynamic process which is meaningful only in its effect
on and in its utilization by the individual mind.
My point is that "reality", whatever it may be, is integral
to and inseparable from the individual who perceives,
interprets, expresses, acts upon it. That's how I interpret
Kierkegaard's assertion that subjectivity is the truth.
Reality aside from, independent of, the individual who
lives and thrives in it, is a Halloween exhibit.

Jochen