Doctor James Eiswert
Philosophy
1 November 2016
The Nature of Belief in Knowledge Without beliefs there would be no knowledge. In order to achieve knowledge one must understand how to reach to it. There are many complex steps for one to succeed knowledge. Plato states that in order to reach knowledge one must have a true justified belief. There are two types of beliefs: knowledge and opinions. One may have the opinion based belief that the sky is green. Another person may have the knowledgeable belief that the sky is blue. These are two different types of beliefs, but one is only considered justifiable as true, which is the knowledgeable belief. In order to better understand the process in order to get from beliefs to …show more content…
A belief is described as a speech communication act that contains two essential features. A belief must contain linguistic expressions which are sentential, which translates over to sentences. These sentences must be grammatically correct units within a given language that states something to be the case. An example of the belief speech act would be: “I believe that the grass is green”. After a person states their belief the responding person could say one of three possible things. One possible thing that they could say is: Yes, I too believe that the grass is green. Another thing that the person could say is: No, I do not agree that the grass is green. Lastly, another option that the person could say is: I cannot decide if the grass is green or not. Speech acts are sentences which comes with an affirmation, denial, or withholding. If it does not have one of these three things it cannot be a belief speech act, it then becomes a non-belief speech act. A non-belief speech act is still considered a part of language. It has a developed syntax and proper grammar. Non-belief speech acts has a particular meaning but does not hold a belief. Non-belief speech acts are not able to be well formed sentences. Some examples of this would be: wow, cool, thanks, etc. These examples are known as standalones. Standalones are words that have meaning but are not considered to be sentences, therefore, not …show more content…
One must begin at belief then continue down to communication acts, then to speech acts, to beliefs then to propositions, then finally to knowledge. As discussed before, Plato states that knowledge has to be a justified true belief. One thing that Plato studied within philosophy was epistemology. Epistemology is the study or theory of or word about knowledge. Beliefs contain knowledge and opinions. These are two very different things. Knowledge contains beliefs that are known. Opinions contains beliefs which are not known. Although opinions may not be known at the moment there is a possible chance that they can transfer over into the knowledge side of the spectrum. All that has to be done in order for this to happen be to meet justification and truth within the statement being made. Within making the path to knowledge one must understand that what is being said cannot be a disposition, non-speech act, non-belief act, non-propositional act, or an opinion. This is because these certain things do not meet the criteria in order to be classified as a knowledgeable fact. Epistemology takes on an important role within today’s modern society, thanks to Plato. Knowledge can be confusing at times, but over time it makes more sense throughout communicating within a community where there is plenty of knowledge to be shared with one