How do you know you know something, and why are you so sure that you do not know at times?

Huh? :-s
This reminds me of Thanksgiving Day when my husband asked me if I was forgetting anything. I replied (quite reasonably, I thought), “How would I know?”

Wow! I know I don’t know how to answer this question. It comes from the “don’t make a fool of yourself” part of my brain. Great question!

Do we know that we spell dilemma this way in English? That is arbitrary, of course, but the common usage now, as well as equation. Neither true nor false but custom for now.

Think about the five blind men feeling up an elephant. What is truth? Wall, tree, rope, sword, or mess that smells on soles of shoes.

We don’t.
But we can use our reasoning and evidence gathering faculties to make a ‘best guess’ and hope that our results concur with those of others.

I don’t know. How do I know that I don’t know? Shit! The Bible doesn’t tell me so, does it? Don’t bother to answer. After all, how the hell would you know?

@gailcalled Nice!

Here’s an experimental approach to the question of knowledge. It’s based on the premise that knowledge is power. Place a light bulb in your ear, then think a declarative thought. If the bulb illuminates, then you know whatever is expressed in that thought. Scientific, huh?

You know that you know X because your perception, and its consequent interpretation lead you to believe X, and that it would contradict your experience to deny X. I know (!) that this is circular.

For clarity, I believe that belief (circular much?) is involuntary.

The interpretation is the key (interpretation is not necessarily a voluntary act either) – there is plenty of evidence that, cultural biases aside, we really do perceive the world in highly similar ways: I see an apple fall, a Pirahã speaker sees it fall. Therefore, if I perceive X, I can be pretty (though not completely – if you’re seeking a definite epistemic answer for this question, you’ll be waiting a long time) sure that X actually happened. Therefore, I know it happened.

Precisely what happened is open to interpretation.

The interpretation of the event is key. Apart from a dogmatic insistence on a verificationist approach to truth, we must be pragmatic.

If we are to look at the problem from a foundational perspective, I know the proposition “Scott (me) exists” to be true because it would be illogical to believe otherwise.

I think your choice of words in your question actually points to the answer – as I understand it (from an article I read recently on sciencedaily.com, although I’ll be buggered if I can find it now), the regions in the brain involved in determining that a chihuahua is a dog, as is a St. Bernard, are essentially the regions of the brain which are involved in decision making.

@the100thmonkey Maybe you are right.

I’m probably not :D

:P

Nope, i’m not sure that what i know is true. Im guessing most of what i know is true is false. Humans aren’t exactly truth seeking missiles. How do you know brushing your teeth prevents tooth decay? You don’t, do you? But you don’t have much else to go on, so you have to go with what people tell you..

@nisse In the practical sense I agree with you; it’s very annoying – some people never brush or floss and have a great set for 60 years. Some floss and brush everyady three times a day (and how much is too much?) – and lose all their teeth by 30.

Some people smoke (my grandfather) like 2–3 pack a day – live til a hundred. Some get emphesema and other assorted crap when they are 40.

Sheesh – I don’t know nothing. That I am sure of.

ZEN OUT