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What constitutes knowledge
Mention and explain three forms of knowledge
What constitutes knowledge
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What can we say about knowledge? Well first of all we have to try to identify what knowledge is or what type of knowledge there is. I believe we can identify it in three ways propositional knowledge, procedural knowledge or know-how, and personal knowledge. Propositional knowledge is the knowing of facts and truths about something or learned knowledge. For example, I can know that two plus two is four, I cannot know that two plus two is five because that is not known it doesn’t exist. Also, take an example of building an engine one must be taught or have learned to build the engine to have knowledge in building it.
Procedural knowledge is a lot like propositional knowledge in the sense that you have to take the knowledge you have learned and apply it. Without actually applying propositional knowledge you can’t have Procedural knowledge. Take the engine building knowledge from before you don’t really know how to build an engine without actually doing it. You can learn and read all about it without actually knowing how to apply it. It’s not claiming that you know about it, but you actually possess the skills involved with doing it. Lastly, personal knowledge, in this sense is to do with being familiar with something. In order to know someone, one must have met that person, In order to know love, one must have experienced it. The word “know” is being used to refer to knowledge by acquaintance.
To put this into standard premises, we could say that knowledge is, “If I know P then P is true and I believe P,” but there is a problem because I can believe I will win the lotto but I cannot prove it. We can modify it by saying, “If I know P then P is true and I truly believe P.” By putting truly there means the belief has to be based on ...
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...t of him in which there was no reality, but it was merely a projection that the demon put in his mind. He also believed in the dream argument how do we know we are in reality and not dreaming? We have good reason that both of these arguments are not the case involving our reality but how can one really know? The strong thing about the evil demon argument is that no one can say we are not possessed by demons; the unfortunate reality is it is not scientifically sound or logical to think that way. With the dream argument, it does not to be substantially strong. You can find many mistakes and counter examples that would support, otherwise, like lucid dreamers and shared experiences. It seems that modern day philosophers have found some way to breakdown both arguments making them appear weak. Again the issue comes up, as how does one truly know, in the sense of a belief?
Following Descartes’ reasoning through the 2nd meditation, his doubt argument is: he can doubt that his body exists, but following the ‘cogito’ he cannot doubt that he exists as a thinking thing, therefore his mind is could exist without his body (Clarke, 1988). Descartes’ point of an evil demon causing you to be deceived in all things material is difficult to argue against and his ‘cogito’ shows it is difficult
According to the reading, Writing as a Mode of Learning by Janet Emig, knowledge is described as “an act of knowing that enters as a passionate contribution of the person to know what is being known, which is a coefficient that is no mere imperfection but a vital component of a person’s knowledge.” Essentially, knowledge is composed of what a person, association or discourse community knows about what is already known in their area of expertise or fully know what could occur in a certain situation, similar to how a rhetor must prepare and know what rhetorical situations might occur at any moment during their speech or writing. Knowledge is created to prepare for various outcomes and situations as goals are being constructed in a discourse community.
There is no concrete definition of knowledge, but there is a definition that is widely agreed upon, or a standard definition. This definition may be widely accepted, but just like most things in philosophy, it is controversial and many disagree with it. The definition involves three conditions that must be met in order for one to truly say that they know something to be true. If one were to state: “The Seattle Mariners have never won a world series,” using the standard definition would look like this: first, the person believes the statement to be true. Second, the statement is in fact true. Third, the person is justified in believing the statement to be true. The three conditions are belief, truth, and justification. There are the “necessary and sufficient conditions” for knowledge. Necessary and sufficient conditions are linked to conditional statements, ‘if x, then y’ statements.
He claims “cogito, ergo sum,” meaning I think, therefore I am. By saying this Descartes shows that in order to be thinking you must exist and therefore are not the puppet of an Evil Demon. As said by Keith Crome in his essay on the Evil Demon, “as Descartes observes, for all that there is an all-powerful and cunning deceiver dedicated to constantly deceiving he cannot bring it about that I am nothing, because it is indubitable that if I am deceived, I exist.” This just points to the fact that in order to be controlled and realize the fact you must actually have to be real. And to that point if there were to be an evil demon controlling all our actions, why would he allow for the doubt that we are in charge that gives rise to the theory itself? If it was truly in control, wouldn’t we go about life never questioning whether or not we are real? In relation to my initial answer, the evil demon does not change much, because either he is or he isn’t, and there is no certain way to know. All we have for certain is “I think, therefore I am” to prove that we are thinking beings and that is enough to contradict the Evil
Nozick takes this further, however, with his “tracking theory”. Nozick adds conditions to the requirements of truth and belief. His conditions are as follows: (1) P is true (2) S believes that P (3) if it were not the case that P, S would not believe P (4) If it were the case that P, then S would believe P. Through this, Nozick means to show that knowledge is a belief that tracks the truth in a reliable fashion. Closure, the idea that we ...
By definition, knowledge is the fact or condition of knowing something with familiarity gained through experience or association (Merriam-Webster.com). In the novel Frankenstein, Mary Shelley considers knowledge as a “dangerous” factor. The danger of it is proved throughout the actions of the characters Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and the creature. The characters all embody the theme of knowledge in different ways. Shelley supports her opinion on knowledge by using references from the Bible and Paradise Lost.
The foundation of valid knowledge depends on one’s personal understanding. To “know” means to understand or be aware. Everyone’s personal knowledge differs and the way we obtain and interpret our knowledge is usually through our spiritual beliefs. In order to gain knowledge I rely on the Word of God. The knowledge of God is the most valuable knowledge a human being can possess. The Word of God can be found in Scripture. Proverbs 2:6 tells us that the Lord gives us wisdom and that the wisdom of God results in knowledge and understanding. But it is also clear that simply being aware of God’s existence is not adequate; the knowledge of God must encompass the profound appreciation for Him and produce a loving and growing relationship with Him.
Beliefs are a condition of said knowledge. Davidson’s argument deals a lot with the concept of objective trut...
What is tacit knowing/knowledge? It is something that is "implied or indicated but not actually expressed." It is what we already know by way of previous experience, or, habituation that has become second nature. This is not a far-fetched idea. If we go back to Plato's Republic, even he believed that humans have the capability to know the right thing to do because we were born with that information already in our minds. A life of study was a way to reflect on this knowledge and use it for the good of all.
A belief is a feeling that an idea is real or true. Beliefs are shared
Knowledge has a preliminary definition which is that it is justified true belief. Due to its dynamic nature, knowledge is subject to review and revision over time. Although, we may believe we have objective facts from various perceptions over time, such facts become re-interpreted in light of improved evidence, findings or technology and instigates new knowledge. This raises the questions, To what extent is knowledge provisional? and In what ways does the rise of new evidence give us a good reason to discard our old knowledge? This new knowledge can be gained in any of the different areas of knowledge, by considering the two areas of knowledge; History and Natural Sciences, I will be able to tackle these knowledge issues since they both offer more objective, yet regularly updated knowledge, which is crucial in order to explore this statement. I believe that rather than discarding knowledge we build upon it and in doing so access better knowledge, as well as getting closer to the truth.
In this paper, I offer a solution to the Gettier problem by adding a fourth condition to the justified true belief analysis of knowledge. First though, a brief review. Traditionally, knowledge had been accounted for with the justified true belief analysis. To know something, three conditions had to be met: first, you had to have a belief; second, the belief had to be justified; third, this justified belief had to be true. So a justified true belief counts as knowledge. Gettier however showed this analysis to be inadequate as one can have a justified true belief that no one would want to count as knowledge.
When I think about knowledge the first thing that comes to my mind is education. I believe that knowledge comes to people by their experiences in life. In other words, life is an instrument that leads me to gain knowledge. Many people consider that old people are wise because they have learned from good and bad experiences throughout their lives. Education requires work, dedication and faith to gain knowledge. We acquired knowledge through the guidance of from parents, role models, college/University teachers and life experiences.
Whether someone's belief is true is not a prerequisite for belief. On the other hand, if something is actually known, then it categorically cannot be false. For example, if a person believes that a bridge is safe enough to support him, and attempts to cross it, but the bridge then collapses under his weight, it could be said that he believed that the bridge was safe but that his belief was mistaken. It would not be accurate to say that he knew that the bridge was safe, because plainly it was not. By contrast, if the bridge actually supported his weight, then he might say that he had believed that the bridge was safe, whereas now, after proving it to himself, he knows it was
Knowledge allows you to prove your facts. It’s the awareness one has about things. Imaginations, at times, can be uncertain. Knowledge leads us to imagination. We can imagine, only if we know. Knowledge is through your hard work and experience. One should not compare two different poles together.