Intelligence and social knowledge – A philosophical inquiring on the social epistemological nature of intelligence as a state institution (original) (raw)

Intelligence is about speaking the truth to the policy-maker. However, this truth is not simply the result of an intellectual inquiring on something which is not in the eyes of the beholder. Intelligence is a social enterprise performed by a collective agent, namely the intelligence agency. Then, intelligence strives for the truth although this endeavor is a very difficult achievement indeed, so much so that intelligence is grounded on performing an entire intelligence cycle completed by an entire institution. Social epistemology is a new branch of analytic philosophy and it inquires the nature of social knowledge and collective agents. This paper considers the role of social knowledge inside intelligence as an institution of the state and it tries to address some fundamental questions related to the social epistemological nature of intelligence.