Doubt Is the Key to Knowledge
Doubt is the key to knowledge” (Persian Proverb). To what extent is this true in two areas of knowledge?
Firstly, to understand fully the proverb, definitions should be given. Doubt is the psychological status of being stuck between believing and disbelieving, involving uncertainty and distrust in a particular situation or issue or when there is lack of hard evidence and facts to support the alleged information, action, motive or decision. When you question a notion or you are open to inquisition or reassessment of it, you are having doubt. Only when you can find the justification for your doubt, one that satisfies whatever convinces you to think otherwise, then you will no longer have doubts. To have knowledge is like to have an explanation, understanding or reasoning to things in the world. Knowledge can be both personal and collective, and not all knowledge is a fact. The big bang theory , the theory of relativity, and the string theory etc. provides us explanations and reasoning to why the world is the way it is. These theories are what we know but are not necessarily the fact – we do not know if these theories are correct, but still knowing these theories count as our knowledge. Knowledge can come from our personal experience as well. This essay will seek to address the extent to which doubt is manifested as a key to knowledge regarding two areas of knowledge, Science and History.
According to Academic Press Dictionary of Science & Technology, science is the systematic observation of natural events and conditions in order to discover facts about them and to formulate laws and principles based on these facts and also the organized body of knowledge that is derived from such observations and that can be verified or tested by further investigation. There is a view that science is seen as provisional, which means that it is subjected to being falsified. In an ever-developing world were new discoveries are made all the time leading to new theories and
Firstly, to understand fully the proverb, definitions should be given. Doubt is the psychological status of being stuck between believing and disbelieving, involving uncertainty and distrust in a particular situation or issue or when there is lack of hard evidence and facts to support the alleged information, action, motive or decision. When you question a notion or you are open to inquisition or reassessment of it, you are having doubt. Only when you can find the justification for your doubt, one that satisfies whatever convinces you to think otherwise, then you will no longer have doubts. To have knowledge is like to have an explanation, understanding or reasoning to things in the world. Knowledge can be both personal and collective, and not all knowledge is a fact. The big bang theory , the theory of relativity, and the string theory etc. provides us explanations and reasoning to why the world is the way it is. These theories are what we know but are not necessarily the fact – we do not know if these theories are correct, but still knowing these theories count as our knowledge. Knowledge can come from our personal experience as well. This essay will seek to address the extent to which doubt is manifested as a key to knowledge regarding two areas of knowledge, Science and History.
According to Academic Press Dictionary of Science & Technology, science is the systematic observation of natural events and conditions in order to discover facts about them and to formulate laws and principles based on these facts and also the organized body of knowledge that is derived from such observations and that can be verified or tested by further investigation. There is a view that science is seen as provisional, which means that it is subjected to being falsified. In an ever-developing world were new discoveries are made all the time leading to new theories and