Do you distinguish between saying "you know" and "you believe" something & can you explain your distinction?

Question

TWH 08202006

I'm noy playing with the words know and believe as some of you enjoy supposing since answering the Q is beyond your abilities or knowledge.

Based on the answers to my Q, many struggle with the distinction. For many it is a fuzzy distinction because you can say that "you believe and you know what you know", but you can only say "you believe in something when you don't know what that something is or bec you have neither the evidence or proof that is necessary and sufficient to say you know. It seems that knowing connotes believing and believing connotes the beginning of knowing, but without the justification provided by evidence and logical truths, believing remains at the believing stage and can't turns into knowing. Knowing is verified beliefs when the beliefs are matters of fact. When it comes to matters of truth and the values we live by, we can only say we believe in them because they are unverifiable and unfalsifiable beyond our knowing them in a verifiable way as we know matters of fact, the focus of modern science. TWH 08262006

-.-, your answer did not answer in the first person the Q asked. I thank for the knowledge you brought to my attention and will look into it, but I want to tackle the very problem you raise in layman's terms. TWH 08272006

Answer 1

Yes I do. I know about something when I am talking about my experiences (I know how I felt when something happened for example); also about facts eg I know 2 plus 2 equals 4. I say I believe to make clear I am giving my opinion eg I believe something is right or wrong or hot or cold.

Answer 2

If one "knows" something, there's the implication that one has personal knowledge that what they know is true. In most cases, that knowledge doesn't leave an opening that this knowledge may possibly be wrong, inaccurate or incorrect.

If one "believes" something, that's not necessarily based upon fact or an input of information--it's simply something that one believes.

In the former situation, however, to be a person who's open to knowledge, it's necessary to be receptive to new information and changing circumstances. What was true in the past may not necessarily be true today. Just food for thought.

Answer 3

Yes, I do distinguish between knowing and believing.

Believing is only part of knowing. In order for something, call it p, to be known, three conditions must be met:

1. p must be believed
2. p must be true
3. the belief that p is true must be justified.

The most difficult of these, of course, is the justification of belief. If we say a belief is justified by sufficient evidence, what counts as sufficient evidence? Can we ever have sufficient evidence?

Answer 4

According to me, proof is the distinction. The clear definition of know and believe has been blurred by thoughtless use of these words.

I know that Harry Potter is a bestseller because it has been stated as a bestseller.
I believe that someone else is reading it right now because it is such a good book. My belief is not based on any proof.

Answer 5

When I was 15, this question of knowing vs thinking became very important to me. Opinions become fact too easily for too many. I decided to be very conscious of my own "knowing". I found that there is very little you can know compared to what you may think.
The tool I used at that young age, was to ask myself, "Would you bet on the truth of it and gamble whatever you loved most?"
Many times the answer was no.

Answer 6

The picture we find in Stroud and Grice, I find compelling.
Claims to knowledge defy conversational standards that we assume.. and generate an implicature that goes beyond the meaning of the proposition "S knows that P".

The implicature is hyperbolic, in this case. "I Know the bus will arrive", etc. Nobody is so certain.

Belief-claims are much more humble, and, for some contingent historical reasons, unconvincing in general conversation when we try to convey our understanding of what we take to be facts.

Answer 7

When I know something, I regard to it as true beyond doubt, in accordance with FACTS.
When I believe something, I have faith or trust that my opinion set forth is true. And I do that in confidence. If my opinion poses possibility for further argument in what I believe, then I can't say I know, when different conclusions may result.

People often choose to use the word 'I know' when they firmly believe.
In other words,
Do you know?
Do you really know? Or do you believe you know?

Answer 8

Sure. "You believe" means you feel something to be right and true with no actual evidence to truly prove that to yourself and/or to others. "You know" means you know something to be true because you experienced it and can either prove that experience to yourself, and/or to others.

An example, a pencil falls off a desk and you see it happen. "You Know" for a fact that you experienced that happening. Someone tells you that the pencil fell to the floor, "you believe" it happened because of what you heard.

I know it's a basic example, but it's the best I could come up with without getting too wordy.

Answer 9

You can believe many things that just ain't so...You cannot know things that ain't so (though you can know that things ain't so).

Beliefs are usually based on wishes, desires, invalid inferences, false premises, and other subjective states of mind. If something is known, it doesn't depend on anyone's state of mind, but only on the facts.

Answer 10

i know something that i have personally experienced to be or be true (though this is belief, in itself, as you have to trust - believe in the data of - your sense organs). i say i believe something in two different ways. at times, i say it meaning, "i think i know this, but i'm not 100% certain). at other times, i would use it as a statement of absolute faith in something i haven't personally experienced (this is somewhat rare, for me). examples: the movie's at eight, i believe. i believe that moses parted the red sea (these are examples, recall). i know i'm answering your question.