How do you know if you know something?

Answer 1

U r 100% sure of the answer n u feel very confident... If u r interested in a particular subject or something else u will automatically want to no everything about it just to be better than others.... So u will make sure u know wat u need to no

Answer 2

"The only thing that I know is that I know nothing" (Socrates)

What we call Reality is just the way human brain and senses capture part of the world. Thus everything we know is relative and limited and no-one can be 100% sure that they know the absolute and whole truth for something.
Usually there is the convention that when the information you have allows you to understand e.g. a system and predict correctly its behaviour and properties then you have sufficient knowledge of it.
For example, how do you know that a glass of water has no acetic acid inside it?
If it has a lot, then it will smell like vinegar and you know it's there.
If it is below the smell detection limit you go to chemical methods of analysis that can go down to very low levels but still there is no method to detect a compound on the level of a single molecule with 100% certainty-you would need standards to calibrate, measurement errors are always there...
But when you go down to such levels (like one molecule in a glass of water) that there is no detectable effect or phenomenon to reveal the existence of such a compound, you can say that you "know" it is absent, since there is no difference if there are actually undetetactable traces or not.

Of course we should always be open-minded;progress provides new tools and reveals more information which can totally change what we think we "know". Just consider the people who once upon a time "knew" that the earth was flat.

Answer 3

This is an age old question and an actual discipline called Epistemology, or study of knowledge. It seems the more we know about something, the more we realize we don't know.

Answer 4

The proper knowledge. You would just know--or give an educated guess. Plus there are always the proof from somewhere or something/...or someone.

Answer 5

Ask yourself the a question.. If your brain has the answer, thats how u know u if u know something..

Answer 6

It's the same as knowing you don't know. How can anyone know anything? Who would have told them. Why would they believe?

In reading about Daoist philosophy I came across a statement that read:

"Knowing is for fools....to believe anything absolute is absurd...if you are truly a Daoist you will eventually renounce Daoism."

I don't know how you would know

Answer 7

It depends, are you alive or are you just a substance in cyberspace otherwise you know something!

Answer 8

Your brain collects data and stores it. You then recall the data with your memory and can use it.

Answer 9

You might not know, if you are asking this question. Funny, and got my attention.

Answer 10

Your sense of doubt vanishes.