Tok Essay

Knowing and Believing

        Differentiating between knowledge and belief can be a difficult thing to do. In some ways, they are very similar concepts. However, knowing and believing have different processes. To understand this, it may be useful to explore what each term means and the differences between them.

        The dictionary^[1] defines knowledge as “facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education.” This is only one of many definitions, as knowledge can be different to each individual. However, most definitions acknowledge the fact that knowing has a solid basis, in this case experience or education. The process of knowing begins with gathering information and evidence as to why you know something. This may be more extensive regarding some pieces of knowledge as apposed to others, but in order to know something for certain, there must be a foundation of proof.

        Believing, on the other hand, does not require evidence. Belief is defined by the dictionary^[2] as “an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists.” Therefore, the idea of believing in something implies blindly accepting something without need for proof or validation. By these definitions, one could believe in something without knowing it. For example, one may avidly believe in God without any tangible proof of His existence. It cannot be known for sure whether God exists or not, but both His existence and lack thereof are strongly believed by people around the world, because it is what they individually accept to be true.

        In conclusion, knowing and believing are different in the way they are founded. Knowledge is based on fact and belief is established without any solid evidence. Therefore we may conclude that knowing and believing are not the same thing.

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