But I don't have to know an answer. I don't feel frightened by not knowing things, by being lost in the mysterious universe without having any purpose, which is the way it really is, as far as I can tell, possibly. It doesn't frighten me.
-- physicist Richard Feynman
What do we know? The question sounds simple at first but becomes more complicated the more deeply it is probed.
Put another way, can we answer questions about the act of knowing itself?
Can we define knowledge? What makes something knowledge?
How do we gain knowledge? Where does it come from?
Can we determine the truth of knowledge?
Can we determine the certainty of knowledge?
Questions like these belong to a branch of philosophy called "epistemology." Some of humanity's brightest minds have addressed them. It may be enlightening to hear what they found.
Next: I Doubt It
For Further Exploration
The philosophically minded and curious can browse these sources elsewhere on the Web:
- Epistemology (Wikipedia)
- Epistemology, introduction: a brief overview of the various schools of thought
- The Epistemology Page