TOK journal entry

KNOWLEDGE. The central idea for perpetually all discussions in our TOK. Thus the title of the subject, Theory of Knowledge. Our daily living habits and doings rely on our Knowledge. Fortunately, knowledge is a theory with two main components which are truth and belief. In cases, the absolute same, in cases, the absolute opposite.

Truth is a powerful term. Once considered a truth, that perception is undeniable until proven otherwise. Not affected by public opinion, the truth is unchangeable under all conditions. As once said by Giordano Bruno, “It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority. Truth does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of the people.” Backing Bruno, I believe (irony!!) that truth is something that can be backed with proof and justification. This however is contradicting truth as I have no proof that something can be backed by proof would be considered true.

Truth apart from being something verifiable, is the limiting concept from distinguishing knowledge from belief. Something that one may believe may be knowledge if it can be justified by proof or justification. Basically, if it can be stated to be true. Until that happens, a belief remains a belief . For example, I believe in God. I believe that there is “someone” who had to be the ( sorry for the cliché) “brains behind the operation.” I believe that he created us for a reason. A reason known only by “him,” undisclosed to the universe. However, someone may believe in the other theories created by men and women around the world. For example, the most popular of them all, the big bang theory including matter and anti-matter existing from nothing but vacuum. Also, there are those who believe in theories put forward by movies such as “The Truman Show” and “The Matrix.” They believe that humans are simply guinea pigs as a part of an experiment. They believe that someone is watching us. Someone, who is superior and gives us human’s different situations to see how we respond to it and to each other. Thus, until proven correct OR incorrect, they may not be justifiable as truth.

There is, however another problem relating to be truth and belief. The lack of acceptance due to strong beliefs. That is, people defy stated facts and substitute with their opinions that they have such great trust in. Once said by Winston Churchill “Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but usually manages to pick himself up, walk over or around it and carry on..” To sum it up, a belief is made into a truth because of the lack of belief in the truth.