Introduction
“Unexamined life is not worth living,” said Socrates. Self-knowledge is the main purpose why we want to know ourselves because it serves as guides to live a life with a purpose. However, one problem in knowing ourselves is “how.” To ask the question, “how” concerns of its method –that is, how can we arrive at the answers of “Who am I?” Aside from this problem, some other problems are to be treated, as follows: (1) What is the appropriate approach or method we can employ to find meaning from our experience? and (2) Can we fully know ourselves like holding an apple in the palm? These questions are regarded as epistemological, which has to do with both method and truth. In epistemology, the method in arriving at true knowledge is as necessary as the true knowledge itself.
1) FACT & PROPOSITION
Fact refers to something that has really occurred or is occurring or is actually the case. It is external or something “outside” of the person perceiving it. For example, it is a fact –the actual case, that the sun at 12 noon is hot. Even if no one cares about this fact, it is really and actually the case that the sun at 12 noon is hot –of course, under the clear skies. Now, if one is going to put this fact into words, it becomes a statement of fact, say, “The sun at 12 noon is hot.” This statement of fact is verifiable.
Proposition refers to a statement of facts that may be asserted or denied (Copi & Cohen, 2005). Let me cite some common examples: (1) The table is green, (2) The classroom is painted, (3) The earth is spherical in form, (4) That girl is beautiful, and (5) The sun at 12 noon is hot. These are statements of facts. If any of these statements of facts contains an element of assertion or denial, then it is already a proposition. There are two important characteristics of a proposition, as follows: (1) It can be true or false; and (2) It is expressed in a sentence. But, not all sentences are propositions. There are sentences such as exclamatory, imperative and interrogative sentences, which do not contain any assertion or denial of a proposition. Thus, all propositions are sentences --declarative sentences, in particular.
2) BELIEF, OPINION & KNOWLEDGE
Belief refers to a firm assent of a proposition or a firmly held conviction. Based on its definition, belief is somehow subjective –in terms of how much one is convinced of what he proposes like “It is raining in Saudi Arabia.” But, if one has a firm conviction (belief) of this proposition, “It is raining in Saudi Arabia,” it does not necessarily follow that he has enough evidence to have such belief. It is "most likely true" that he has such firm conviction of the proposition because somebody has told him so. So, belief is still subjective, may not be fortified by sufficient evidence. As shown below, belief is not yet knowledge. Knowledge is a form of belief, which is justified and true.
Belief includes the qualitative and quantitative forms of the representations of facts. For example, “The table is brown.” Its qualitative form is the brown-ness of the table and its quantitative form is at least referring to a single table.
There are two types of belief: (1) factual belief and (2) religious belief. Factual belief is a firm conviction of a proposition established by facts. Religious belief, on the other hand, is a firm conviction of a proposition established by faith (not by facts).
Whereas belief is a matter of conviction, attitude is a matter of taste about a certain fact. Like belief, attitude is subjective. For example, I believe that Anne is taller than May since Anne stands 5 feet and 5 inches whereas May is only about 5 feet and 3 inches. But, with a matter of attitude, I don’t like girls who are taller than I. When I say, I don’t like tall girls, I’m expressing my attitude (or my like and dislike) towards tall girls. So, attitude is a matter of personal taste to a certain fact like tall girls.
Opinion (Greek word: doxa), on the other hand, is “an obligation to withhold assent due to lack of sufficient evidence” (Descartes cited in Caraan, 2016). When we say, “withholding assent,” we mean we put to doubt a certain proposition due to lack of evidence. For example, we claim that “the major cause of family break-up is the third party of either spouse” is still an opinion because it is inconclusive to say such due to insufficient evidence. To gather evidence to support such claim, one may conduct a research study in a certain city like Dumaguete. If our findings in Dumaguete City support our claim that the major cause of family break-up is the third party of either spouse, such findings are not yet enough if we are talking about family break-up in the whole Negros Oriental. So, opinion does not contain any firm conviction (or belief).
Knowledge (Greek word: episteme) is a “justified true belief,” Plato defines. Knowledge is a belief, not a matter of attitude, which is justified and true. For Plato, there are three conditions of knowledge, namely: (1) belief –in the sense that one has firm assent or conviction in what he claims as true; (2) true –in the sense that what he claims is what is really, actually the case; and (3) justified –in the sense that what he claims can no longer be refuted by other counter-evidence. For Aristotle, a proposition is true, “if, of what is the case, it says what is the case, or if, of what is not the case, it says that it is not the case.” It is a sort of “semantic definition” of truth, according to Alfred Tarski.
There are three theories of truth, namely: Correspondence theory, Coherence theory and Pragmatic theory. Correspondence theory claims that a proposition is true if it corresponds to the reality or actual state of affairs. Aristotle's definition of truth is one of this sort. The coherence theory claims that a proposition is true if it "coheres" with other propositions. For example, "pigs are unclean," according to the Muslim belief. This proposition is true merely in the context of Muslim religion. Lastly, the pragmatic theory holds that what is true is what works in a certain situation. Effectivity of knowledge is the basis of the truth of a proposition (Abella, 2016).
"Do you know yourself like holding an apple in the palm?"
Finally, what is the difference between knowledge and wisdom? Knowing the distinction between knowledge and wisdom is crucial in our quest for who we are. Most often than not, a knowledgeable person pretends he/she knows everything. He/she who pretends he/she knows himself better has the tendency to have too much self-confidence. He/she becomes a braggart. He/she doesn’t know how to humble himself. To know ourselves is really important. Socrates once said, “Unexamined life is not worth living.” Yet, we need to accept the fact that we cannot know ourselves fully or “as clear as holding an apple in the hand.” To realize such is actually the beginning of wisdom.
Wisdom, in Socratic sense, is simply knowing of one thing with certainty –that is, we don’t know. In the Apology, Socrates said, “O men of Athens, that God only is wise; and in this oracle he means to say that the wisdom of men is little or nothing; he is not speaking of Socrates, he is only using my name as an illustration, as if he said, He, O men, is the wisest, who, like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing.”
To be wise is to accept our ignorance. It doesn't, however, mean that we have to give up our desire to know or give up our knowledge and end up in skepticism, or we claim that knowledge is untenable –meaning, knowledge is impossible. Yet, to be wise like Socrates is to engage in dialogue with other seekers for truth.
In attaining wisdom, there is a need for emptying. The Taoist considers an empty cup more useful than a full one. An old adage goes, "deep water is silent; shallow water creates much noise." This means simplicity and humility (Elgin 2009 cited in Ramos, 2016). To be “intellectually empty” means that one has still a sense of wonder. With sense of wonder, one asks questions and keeps on asking questions. To know oneself is a life-long journey. (Related article: Knowledge and Wisdom [click]).
