Ever wondered how you know things? Yes, knowledge is very important, actually it's one of the most important things in a person's life. Why? Because without knowledge, we would all be clueless people, in a world we know nothing about.
In total, there are 8 ways of knowing things. I will list all of them below for all of you to see and i will briefly explain each factor and how it applies to gaining knowledge.
Emotion: (subjectivity, empathy, romanticism..)
- this differs from one person to another, as we all have different feelings
Memory: (eye-witness testimony, illusion, recall..)
-past experiences can affect how we remember things or how we gain knowledge
Imagination: (creativity, fiction, interpretation..)
- this can help us solve problems, as it's very personal to us
Perception/sense perception: (realism, sensation..)
-this relates to what we see, hear, smell.., however we can never be sure how accurate are senses are
Intuition: (unconscious, instinct..)
-this factor can be the most confusing, because it makes us wonder how we 'just know' something without any actual solid evidence
Reason: (deduction, rationalism..)
-this factor can be argued to be the most reliable out of the 8, this is because there is actual evidence to support why/how we know something
Faith: (trust, experience, judgement..)
-this factor somehow relates to religion and it can be listed as the 'most arguable' factor
Language: (stereotype, translation, communication..)
-this is a form of communication, however communication isn't only about words
Despite being able to use one of these factors to explain why we know something, we can never actually be certain if it's 100% true. I will give you an example, I found out about a week ago that in fact we have all been living in a lie (literally living in it). I'll explain, you know the world map we have grown up learning about in geography; well turns out that this map is an incorrect version. The map that is commonly used, is called the Mercator map, while the more accurate one is called Gall Peter's map.
Mercator Map
In total, there are 8 ways of knowing things. I will list all of them below for all of you to see and i will briefly explain each factor and how it applies to gaining knowledge.
Emotion: (subjectivity, empathy, romanticism..)
- this differs from one person to another, as we all have different feelings
Memory: (eye-witness testimony, illusion, recall..)
-past experiences can affect how we remember things or how we gain knowledge
Imagination: (creativity, fiction, interpretation..)
- this can help us solve problems, as it's very personal to us
Perception/sense perception: (realism, sensation..)
-this relates to what we see, hear, smell.., however we can never be sure how accurate are senses are
Intuition: (unconscious, instinct..)
-this factor can be the most confusing, because it makes us wonder how we 'just know' something without any actual solid evidence
Reason: (deduction, rationalism..)
-this factor can be argued to be the most reliable out of the 8, this is because there is actual evidence to support why/how we know something
Faith: (trust, experience, judgement..)
-this factor somehow relates to religion and it can be listed as the 'most arguable' factor
Language: (stereotype, translation, communication..)
-this is a form of communication, however communication isn't only about words
Despite being able to use one of these factors to explain why we know something, we can never actually be certain if it's 100% true. I will give you an example, I found out about a week ago that in fact we have all been living in a lie (literally living in it). I'll explain, you know the world map we have grown up learning about in geography; well turns out that this map is an incorrect version. The map that is commonly used, is called the Mercator map, while the more accurate one is called Gall Peter's map.
Mercator Map
Gall Peter's Map
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This map is thought to be more accurate, as, in reality Europe is much smaller than it is in the Mercator map, this is because a European created the map, therefore he wanted Europe to stand out in the world.
On that note, this can relate to faith and emotion, as he could have been very passionate about Europe and wanted to show that by making sure it can be clearly seen in the world.
I hope this post helped you realise that there is a lot more out there that we are unaware about and that is why we should continue to expand our knowledge.
