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Belief and Knowledge
- Thread starter Falvlun
- Start date
sovietchild
Well-Known Member
Believing is believing that we can make it to Mars, we just don't know 100% if we are going to make it. Is that good?
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Generally, belief doesn't require repeatable evidence, and knowledge does.
Unveiled Artist
Veteran Member
I believe I'm going to live tomorrow. I try not to take it for granted; and, I put conviction and gratitude on my existence today, I will do likewise when I live tomorrow. I think or hold the opinion of something true.
However,
I know that my beliefs are not facts. I do not know if I will be alive tomorrow. Yet, we say with certainty we will but that's taking life for granted.
How they relate?
Maybe belief is the stepping stone to knowledge. First we have to trust what we believe to be true. When it's confirmed, it's no longer a belief, it's knowledge.
Knowledge is confirmed belief. Confirmation however is different for everyone, some even need at least 99% certainty.
Knowledge for me is generally something I feel comfortable about proving to someone else. Belief is something I think is true but might not be able to prove it.
The description I prefer is that belief is an attitude of truth towards an object (proposition). An attitude can be genuine or it can be adopted, but in any case we invest ourselves in it to satisfy a practical need for reality.
Knowledge is that same attitude with the caveat that it just happens to be true.
The relation between them is ontology.
psychoslice
Veteran Member
Belief is fixed, knowledge is flow, we are always learning something new, to believe in any something from that knowledge is to again fix it, put it in a box.
I think that's how many people distinguish between the 2: belief is something we think is true. Knowledge is something we are certain is true.
If I meet my coworker's wife once, and learn her name is Julia, would I have to be introduced to her multiple times in order to know that her name was Julia?
I like the stepping stone imagery.
Do you think something stops being a belief when it become knowledge? How do we know when something has been confirmed?
I think this is a usual understanding. But, since confirmation is different for everyone, does knowledge have any, or require any, actual relationship to the truth? Can I say that I know something that turns out to be false?
I think this is a really practical approach.
Would you consider knowledge a "belief you feel comfortable proving to someone else"; you just labeled it "something" above.
Acceptance of a premise or claim as true.
Justified true belief.
Knowledge is a subset of belief.
As always, your post challenges and informs.
What is the difference between an attitude that is genuine vs one that has been adopted?
I think your description of belief and knowledge is spot on. I especially like the description of belief as a "practical need for reality."
But, I've been thinking about this apparent disconnect between our concept of what knowledge is and what we actually consider knowledge.
We all conceive of knowledge as this pool of facts that accurately reflect reality. That's our concept of knowledge.
But, in practice, how do we determine that something is true?
When we say "I know" it seems to be more a statement of certainty: I am certain this is true.
Guy Threepwood
Mighty Pirate
Good question
We can believe 100% that we are awake in a dream, and then when we do wake up we know it.. but how do you really define the difference? I don't know
We can believe 100% that we are awake in a dream, and then when we do wake up we know it.. but how do you really define the difference? I don't know
The problem being, of course, how do we determine reality?
Ha! No, but next time you meet her, your knowledge of her will help you call her by her name. Her name will - in most cases - reliably be "Julia".