Epistemology: Understanding Opinion, Belief, and Knowledge

Defining Opinion, Belief, and Knowledge

Opinion: By opinion, we mean a subjective assessment about something we cannot be sure of and cannot prove to others. It is an assessment about reality, or how it should be, based on our interests and desires, but it is not supported by convincing reason.

The Nature of Belief

Belief: We can distinguish two main types or uses:

• Hesitant use: When we want to express that we are not sure if what we are talking about is true; that is, we hesitate about its veracity.
• Assertive use: When we are sure about something but we do not have enough evidence to prove it.

Defining Knowledge

Knowledge: It is a belief about something we are sure of, and also something we can prove. Therefore, being able to justify something rationally is the main quality of knowledge. Knowledge is, therefore, a belief about something we are sure of and can prove.

Theoretical and Practical Knowledge

• Theoretical knowledge: Consisting of all the information that describes and explains the natural and social world around us.
• Practical knowledge: This is not an explanation or a description of the world, but a kind of knowledge oriented toward knowing how to act in the world.

The Concept of the Scientific Paradigm

Scientific Paradigm: The Kuhnian concept of a paradigm refers to a system consisting of the theories, terminology, methods, beliefs, and instruments in which scientific research is developed at a particular time.

Aristotle’s View on Theoretical Knowledge

According to Aristotle, theoretical knowledge was a disinterested and pleasant contemplation of nature. This contemplation or observation based on reason is understood as an apprehension of reality in which we discover not only how reality is but also why reality is that way.

Functions of Theoretical Knowledge

• Description: It must describe reality and indicate what its characteristics are.
• Explanation: It tries to understand and clarify why the facts are that way and not otherwise. It tries to explain reality by discovering its causes.
• Prediction: The recognition of the causes allows us to know what will happen in the future. Knowing what events cause certain phenomena is useful for us because, as long as these events happen, the same effects can be expected to occur.

The Problem of Truth in Formal Sciences

• Relations of ideas: These are a priori and indestructible bonds created between ideas. All logically true statements, such as "4 + 5 = 9," are relations of ideas. Relations of ideas are intuitively or demonstrably certain, and a denial of such a proposition implies a contradiction.
• Matters of fact: These deal with experience. That "the sun is shining," that "yesterday I went for a walk," or that "it will rain tomorrow" are all matters of fact. They are learned a posteriori and can be denied without fear of contradiction. For example, if it is sunny outside and I assert that "it is raining."