THE PHILOSOPHY OF KNOWLEDGE: KNOWLEDGE VS BELIEF (part 1)

To be an effective thinker, you first have to think about thinking and develop the art of reasoning. Philosophy is the study of the foundations of pretty much everything. The search for knowledge is one of the defining characteristics of human beings. Sometimes, knowledge and belief are thought to mean the same. They are not.

It is not enough to just have an opinion. To say you feel it deep in your gut does not make it knowledge. But after getting the true picture of things (with proof of course), you say, ‘I used to believe this...’ Notice that you never say, ‘I used to know...’ This means that knowing can be said to be superior to belief. Knowledge is very objective, while belief is very subjective.

Doubt is absolutely important with knowledge because for example in science, doubt has a special place; any theory is always open to being doubted and tested. But with belief, it’s quite different. Your doubt of a person’s belief most times does not stop them from believing; because to them, it is a fixed idea.

So, those things you think you know, are they based on belief or proven knowledge? You might want to check...