Season 4 Podcast 44 “What is Knowledge”
Synonyms for knowledge are
Scholarship, education, erudition, intelligence, awareness, consciousness, cognition, comprehension, discernment, perception, information, facts.
When we think of knowledge, we often think of facts, sometimes redundantly referred to as “true facts.” A better word would be “accurate facts” though that also is a tautology. Factual implies accuracy. In a crime investigation detectives gather facts but learn very quickly that perceptions differ. No two people see things exactly alike.
How many thousands, if not tens of thousands have claimed to see Bigfoot, that elusive monster of the woods, UFO’s, or ghosts. Putting hoaxes aside, it is irrational to condemn every eyewitness of lying, but in the absence of physical proof, it is not irrational to be skeptical about their interpretation of what they saw. Their facts may be accepted but not their perceptions or interpretations of those facts.
We must distinguish between facts, regardless of how accurate, and knowledge. We also need to separate knowledge from truth. All the synonyms above are synonyms of knowledge, but they are not synonyms of truth. Truth, for example, exists without knowledge; therefore, we need to distinguish between knowledge and truth. Paul said
2 Timothy 3:7
“7 Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Truth, then, is in a category by itself. We may have a knowledge of truth, but knowledge itself is not truth. Truth is impervious to knowledge. We discover truth; we do not create it. Truth is impervious to everything. Interestingly enough, if you try to find a definition of truth, reference books become rather elusive. One Oxford dictionary defined truth as “the quality or state of being true.” That is like defining salt as “the quality or state of being salty.” In fact, it is hard to get out of a loop. The same Oxford dictionary defined truth as “That which is true.” Of course, it is meaningless to define a word with the word itself. The dictionary continues, “That which is true or in accordance with fact or reality.” The definition does not get out of its tautology. To say that truth is fact is the same as saying that truth is truth. The dictionary continued, “A fact or belief that is accepted as true.” That negates the entire idea of truth. To accept something as true does not make it true.
Go back to the fruitless chase for Bigfoot or UFO’s or aliens or ghosts. To say I believe something is true; therefore, it is true is a classic logical fallacy. It is also a classic logical fallacy to say that the majority believe it is true; therefore, it is true. Or to say that this or that authority says it is true; therefore, it is true. We are as a nation a gullible bunch for we accept truth simply because a movie star or a sports figure or some other famous person said it was true. It sells mouthwash and global warming, but it doesn’t change truth. Truth and facts are not the same thing which means that knowledge and truth are not the same thing.
Since it is somewhat fruitless to define a term by saying what it isn’t, perhaps it is best if we try to identify the primary attribute of truth. To my mind it is this:
Truth never changes.
That eliminates facts as a definition of truth because facts change. Facts are like an ice sculpture in the sun or the image of a cloud in the sky. So, what in our world of entropy is permanent? Laws are permanent. Are laws truth? The answer, of course, depends upon whose laws you are talking about. The laws of man are not permanent; therefore, they do not qualify as truth. There are only two sets of laws that are permanent: The laws of nature and the laws of God.
