What Constitutes Knowledge? Essay -- Definition Educating Knowing Essa

What Constitutes Knowledge?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The workings of the mind have been the focus of philosophers from the beginnings of humanity. One primary focal point that has been pondered over by numerous thinkers is what exactly constitutes knowledge. At first glance the issue seems to be cut and dry but the question gets more complicated with thought. This can be witnessed by the many different epistemological theories put forward throughout the ages. This can specifically be seen by looking at 4 different classical views on knowledge, those of Plato, Epicurus, the Stoics and the Skeptics.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  As it was stated in the opening paragraph of this essay everyone has their own theory of what constitutes knowledge. That is why I think it would be beneficial for me to state what I believe knowledge is. First of all I don’t think anyone can ever know anything for certain. I believe that we can sense certain sights, smells, sounds, etc. but our senses could be mistaken. We are let down by our senses all the time we see optical illusions, mirages, mishear people, confuse odors and the like. Also if you think about all of the senses that we are lacking that other species have we are missing out on a great portion of reality. For example bloodhounds have a drastically stronger sense of smell, snakes can see heat, dolphins and bats communicate through high frequency sounds that we can not dream of hearing. Added to all the other things that go on around us daily that we are missing shows me that we are missing out on what is truly reality. We can only hope to experience, or â€Å"know† our own very limited reality. So to that end that is one reason I don’t think we can ever really know anything. In regards to knowledge of human reality I believe that we may be able to be very confident of certain things but I wouldn’t go so far as to say we know them. To me knowledge is having 100% certainty of a fact and that’s dangerous in my opinion because nothing we experience is certain. Here I split what has been called knowledge into empirical knowledge, rational knowledge and Knowledge that we hear from others. However I think that each one of these categories has their own shortcomings and I’ll deal with them from the most credible source of knowledge to the least. As I explained before the senses can deceive us and there is no reason to believe that anything we see is reality. Eve... ...ntrol plays an extremely important part in the process of chasing knowledge. It takes a great deal of self control to admit to yourself that you do not know something. It is a common human characteristic to assume that you know a certain piece of information and you need to restrain yourself and at least double check the validity of the statement. It is also very important to remember how you came to â€Å"know† the information. Many people claim to know things that they have learned in class, from parents, or in church. However, none of these are valid avenues to true knowledge. Just because another individual says something that makes some sense doesn’t mean it’s correct. The individual needs to be wary of believing that they know things. It is one thing to believe in something but it is a far greater commitment to say that you know.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In conclusion I agree with some of the points made by the classical philosophers on the subject of knowledge, but I don’t agree with any of their entire theories. Socrates, Epicuris, the skeptics and the Stoics all make valid points but also stray from my view of what knowledge is. However, I am quite sure that my theory could be wrong as well.