Theory of Knowledge

Theory Of Knowledge

‘Don’t give me any more facts! I need to make a decision right now!’ Although one can question knowledge endlessly, one cannot forever suspend judgment while researching and reflecting. What would it mean to act responsibly in a situation where one cannot possess certainty? How would one justify the decision?

Within all individuals, there is a basic necessity to obtain certain answers to questions, which is known as gumption. The satisfaction of this “gumption” in certain cases, becomes the basic factor of life needed to function. Hence, people often search for explanations to these uncertainties. This endless search will only lead to losing the truth.

Gumption is the attempt to have answers to for everything in order to be able to function. In other words, it is an innate need to answer things; curiosity. People try to get all these answers in vain because either way there are too many variables to assess and hence it would be impossible to attain certainty. It is towards satisfying this gumption that most of our actions are steered. It is towards satisfying this gumption that most of our actions are steered. Humankind needs to stop trying to acquire knowledge to be able to function; they need to coming up with temporary answers through the use of common sense and intuition. As Bertrand Russell said, “All human knowledge is uncertain, inexact and partial.” People cannot rely on common sense, the mind cannot organize anything. Common sense and beliefs are but just mere memories of past experiences. We rely on memory to acquaint us with the continuance and exert of this succession of perceptions.

This is where the metacognition comes in. People need to be metacognistant, this is, they need to realize that they could never know everything possible. Searching for answers is pointless. As David Hume said, “It is impossible to know everything so we need to concentrate on what we know.” A decision not to decide but to leave the question open is in itself a decision and this will lead to the risk of losing truth. Metacognition.

Skepticism also plays a big role in this life long argument. As Jostein Gaarder said in SOPHIE’S WORLD, “…man cannot know the truth about the riddles of nature and of the universe. In philosophy a view like this is called skepticism.” People tend to be skeptical, where knowledge is uncertain. They want to avoid error.