Definition of Knowledge

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Definition of Knowledge

Truth is the essence of all knowledge. Our Knowledge is justified true

belief. Everyday people hear and experience things and then choose

whether or not to believe them. It is the justification of the

knowledge that we acquire that makes something believable to a person

or not. The justification for our knowledge allows us to decide

whether to believe something is true or not. People tend to use things

like scientific evidence, first hand experiences, word of mouth,

logic, faith and many other things everyday of their life to determine

whether something is truthful or not.

Before continuing, it is important that it is stated that nothing

should be taken for truth simply because it is written by any

particular person. The statements in this text are no exception. This

text, along with other statements, should be judged only by whether

they are consistent with evidence or logic. Even if there are many

examples of proven truths in this texts, that does not mean all

statements in this text are true.

The most common source of knowledge is experience. People are

constantly acquiring knowledge through their senses. Someone can see

something to determine if a statement or idea is true or not. For

example, if a person were trying to prove that "cats are black" they

would simply have to see one, sense it, experience it, and determine

whether the statement was true or not. Seeing something a number of

times also inforces a belief in something. For example, seeing only

black cats for a number of years would give someone the idea that "all

cats are black", this is an example of experience leading someone to

un...

... middle of paper ...

... live in could be a deception, an

illusion. The only thing that can be proven to be completely true is

that I, myself, exist. Descartes proved this with the statement "I

think, therefore I am". This allows me to prove to myself that I do

exist, because if I do not exist I could not have come to this

conclusion.

To conclude, the problem with attempting to prove a theory of truth,

is that there can be no theories of truth. This is because truth is

required for a theory of anything. No theory can exist without truth.

Every "proven" statement of every theory is based on the implication

that it is true. So we may believe things to be true, because of

scientific proofs, experience or just because we believe, but most of

these "truths" cannot be backed up by strong enough evidence to prove

that they are completely true.

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