Had We Known IT Right?

The word “knowledge”, as well as its proposition understood by the general population,
is as diverse as the world and everything on it. It could be generally defined as simple as
recognizing and understanding a sentence or a phrase, or even just a word alone. However,
conflicts arise as soon as the topic is explored in-depth. Given the situation wherein a student is
asked to spell the word “Mississippi”, would the student be considered knowledgeable about the
said place if that student could spell it right? How about a resident who lives there but cannot
spell Mississippi? Or an academician who analyzed and studied the history and current affairs in
Mississippi but doubts his knowledge on how to spell the word? Who is most knowledgeable
among them? In full context, could that person be considered knowledgeable of Mississippi? In
the first place, what is knowing? Do we have a full grasp of what knowledge means? Or do we
just have a common understanding of the said word and all the other words in existence while
using it the wrong way?
Knowledge, as per John Hospers tackles different versions like the “knowing how” type
of knowledge that has something to do with abilities, “acquaintance” type of knowledge that is
about confronting through senses, and “knowing-that” type of knowledge that is about coming
into the understanding that a situation occurs. Undeterred by the versions laid out, I still cannot
immerse myself enough to commiserate knowledge’s complexity. But as scrutiny and perusal
progress, belief, truth, and evidence – three important concepts correlative of knowledge – offer
a profound elucidation of the argument which is “What is knowing?”
What is belief?
“Belief is sometimes said to be the subjective condition of knowing. We turn now to the objective
condition: if you know it, it must be true.”
- John Hospers
Above shows a simple explanation of the relationship between belief and knowledge.
Believing is at least the first step to knowing something. Though it does not necessarily mean
that if you believe something, it is indispensably a factor that you truly know it. Nonetheless, you
could not terminate the possibility of a belief to be true knowledge. In addition to that, there are
situations wherein belief is habitually used that its usage does not complement its definition
anymore - causing contradictions. For example, in a situation wherein you are presented with
dumbfounded occurrences which point out that psychologically, you are aware that you believe
in it but some factors result in you uttering that you do not believe what has existed – and vice
versa. In this case, doubt surfaces which result in verbal issues and twisting of definitions,
covering the discovery of knowledge. While belief may be used that way, it could also be used as
a matter of degree wherein you are presented with a proposition and evidence that either supports
or contrasts it. Whatever the stand of that proposition is, you are somehow required to believe it
in a degree of not having a choice to oppose. This may result in the diminishing of ways to
uncover the truth. Therefore, though having a belief is important to the discernment of what is
knowing, it is not as hefty as truth.
What is truth?
“To say of what is that is not, or of what is not that it is, is false; while to say of what is that it is,
and of what is not that it is not, is true.”
- Aristotle
Knowledge always considers the verity of truth. With every truth, there is knowledge and
with every knowledge, there is truth. You could believe something that is not true but you cannot
know what is not true - it is only a thought and not knowledge. In the worldly view, knowing
something reciprocates to certainty however, in the philosophical view, knowing is not the same
as being certain. For example, you could know that your brother is studying because you saw
him before you leave for work. However, that knowledge is not that dependable as the situation
could be influenced by both psychological and environmental factors. Thus, if your workmate
asks whether your brother is studying or not, you would respond that he is but you could not be
certain that he is studying the moment you were asked. This situation leads to different
impediments of what we know: truth, absolute truth, unknown, partly true and partly false, and
lastly, relative that is dependent on location, time, speaker, or opinion. Thus, it is not just a belief
that could be subjected as false but also the truth. However, doubt helps us find knowledge as it
gives the urge to look for evidences that would either reject or accept one’s current knowledge.
What is evidence?
“In the philosophy of science, evidence is taken to be what confirms or refutes scientific theories,
and thereby constitutes our grounds for rationally deciding between competing pictures of the
world.”
- Johns Hopkins
In the environment that I am living in, shreds of evidence are usually given little
acknowledgment when it comes to proving knowledge. However, when we are looking for
certain knowledge, evidence should be highly considered and included so that beliefs, truths, or
even the most subjective opinion could either be proven, rejected or even cause persuasion, even
inside the academic community. That is why in criminal cases and other situations wherein a
verdict is crucial for justice and peace to prevail, the evidence is first searched, proven, verified,
and analyzed before a resolution is made so that there would be no further argument and
questions to rise. Another great example would be the “once” belief of Alfred Wegener that the
Earth was once composed of one big mass and was then shifted to different continents. Before it
became knowledge, most geologists considered his belief as mere jeopardy and were made fun
of during his time. But, as he presented evidence that explained why there are different fossils
found in different continents, among others, many are persuaded that the continental drift theory
is not a mere belief but in fact a truth. Hence, in-depth, evidence serves as both an exotic and
concrete support system of propositions be it scientifically or philosophically. And so, in
situations wherein a proposition may seem odd and impossible, the time evidence is divulged,
doubt deliquesces and knowledge prevails.
Bolt from the blue
“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.”
- Franklin D. Roosevelt.
Of course, reading is useless unless a take away happens. As I got off the chairlift, I came
to the realization of topics related to the following: question and answer, diversity, and
skepticism.
Firstly, question and answer. In the contemporary world that we are living in,
technologies are constantly improving to the point that even the existing knowledge is put into
critical scrutiny or in some cases, rejected through its advanced capabilities. As a result, tons of
questions about anything under the sun sprouted in my brain while I was reading the material and
as questions increases, answers needed to suffice my doubt about a certain knowledge does not
correlate with the number of questions that I have in mind. Although, there are situations
wherein someone who dares to answer provides either absolute truth or just a vague and indirect
riposte that gives further questions. Philosophically, this is what philosophy had been instilling in
the world all this time but I tend to neglect it because as for me, philosophy is just creating a
problem and messing up things when in fact it corrects knowledge by doubting and finding
evidence in whatever stand a person believes or knows. Thus, in this aspect, it taught me to not
be gullible about the world view of society instead find evidence that would quench my thirst.
However, it still bothers me to have questions left unanswered as well as answers that give
further doubt and questions about the mystery of the world.
The next realization is my divulgence about the topic of diversity. The world is diverse.
Propositions are diverse. People are diverse. Everyone and everything is diverse - from the
smallest blueprint in our body to the worst and best personality of individuals. That is why we
have different backgrounds, experiences, and environments which results in the differentiation of
belief, truth, evidence, and knowledge. With that, I realized that diversity is the main reason why
there is a clash in the said factors. Though the word “clash” may lean more on the negative side
than the positive one, for me, a clash is necessary for the discovery of knowledge, of what is
knowing.
The last topic that I had reflected on was skepticism – an attitude of having full doubt
about a certain knowledge or truth. Though this may be good at times, there are also instances
when it is not like being skeptical about situations provided by verified facts. Today, I have seen
and am constantly seeing skeptic people who chose to believe whatever is on-trend or whatever
an influencer advocate and for me, that kind of people should contemplate and find what is
knowing without drowning objective matters. Still, the debate comes into my mind because
again, people are diverse. We cannot control how and what a person’s attitude should be. But as
for me, I would rather not be skeptical about obvious facts and stir an argument just for nothing
instead be both open-minded and ready for change.
The beginning of my knowledge…
The world started in an innocent state and as time passes by, both doubt and evidence are
constantly triggered which gives birth to either belief or knowledge or even a combination of
both. Nonetheless, through philosophizing and not ignoring the hunger and thirst for knowledge,
people get to discover profound and new things that seemed to be off and odd before unearthing.
As the population increases, the number of knowledge increases - it is then when the clash
happens. Overall, considering that we came from different cultures of various society is
important to understand why even standardized propositions are vague or unfamiliar from an
individual to another. We may know the same word but we tend to interpret it differently. Hence,
the more a certain knowledge is used, the more twisted knowledge gets. Nevertheless, it is never
an excuse to let oneself live in vain and lie because just like what society says, “Better the bitter
truth than the sweet lie.” I just aspire that someday, even if it is impossible, someone would be
able to find a way for everyone to be able to live a life full of knowledge and none of the doubts.