Knowledge by Terry Olsen
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See also Knowledge
There are two kinds of knowledge. There is your kind. And there is the other kind. With some exception, a tiny portion of the other kind is called scientific knowledge. An attempt to create agreement about the subject is called Philosophy.
Awareness is the first dimension, or element of knowledge. Without awareness, there can be no knowledge. But awareness is not enough.
The second dimension, or element is certainty.
Knowledge is a bit of information that someone became aware of, and they became reasonably certain about it. They became fairly sure they perceived something. The quarrel about what knowledge is mainly revolves around this second element, certainty. Today's Philosophy has come down through the years, mainly from Greek roots, but still has quarrel in this second area, degree of certainty. You see this quarrel in scientific knowledge as scientists support or oppose what is known. A current example is Global Warming.
Knowledge describes the idea, awareness with certainty. "The flower is red", "The fruit is unripe", "it is raining" -- can be valid statements of knowledge. There is a possible opposite as well because you might be aware, but uncertain. "I think it is raining", "the fruit might be unripe", "Is that a red flower over there?"
A wonderful result of individual knowledge is scientific knowledge. Science gives us knowledge that predicts the physical universe. We know how quickly an object falls because earlier people have studied the situation closely and recorded their results, and those results agree.
You will find people today who will insist that there is no knowledge except the subjects that science can study. This assumes a person can not, themselves have knowledge. It assumes the only knowledge is the second kind of knowledge, everyone else's knowledge. But in times past, mankind was not aware of micro-organisms. Microscopic living creatures could not be observed, studied or known. There could be no science about them. More recently, there could be no knowledge about atoms. Even more recently, crystalline structure could not be studied because we could not know where, precisely, we would be most likely to find electrons about an atomic nucleus. Tomorrow's tools might study things that today's science isn't aware of. For knowledge requires first awareness, and then a degree of certainty.
Feelings are a subject that science has not been able to study. Thoughts are another such subject. But an individual can be aware of and might have a degree of certainty about what they feel. Feelings can be perceived, and at least sometimes, people can be certain of how they feel. Therefore, at least sometimes, your knowledge includes how you feel. By the same reasoning, it might include how you think. Statements such as; "I know I am sad", "I know I am angry", "I know I am happy" can be valid statements of knowledge.
