Journal 1B – The Knower
How do “believing that” and “believing in” differ? How does belief differ from knowledge? Explain using History and one other Area of Knowledge
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Belief is a concept that is used all over the world, in cultures and different societies. Though belief is a universal concept, it can unify people or separate them. Belief has powerful and influential concepts and can be used quite loosely. It is separated into subcategories, and examples are: believing in and believing that. One must understand the definition of belief in order to differentiate the two.
According to Oxford Dictionary, belief is an acceptance that something exists or is true, especially one without proof. While knowledge represents the truth and not being biased to towards region or culture a person is in. But it cannot be just the truth; there must be evidence supporting the statement proposed. Therefore, it is composed of two things which are not only truth but justification as well.
Since the term, “belief” is quite vague, it simply not an opinion, but rather it accounts to the meaning and value of the individual and not solely based upon facts, but instead feelings and several factors (environmental, psychological, etc). It can be the individual’s interpretation of reality by using their senses, meaning it does not need to be justified in order for it to be true for the individual.
Believing in something or someone means that you trust an object or person or idea that one sense can understand and comprehend. An example of this is that I believe in myself. This means that I trust myself to reach my own personal goals successfully. And the proof of that, is my past experiences, and my own personal skills that I have. That preposition, “in” in “believing in” suggests that you trust this object or idea of notion and it already exists but with scientific reasoning and evidence.
While on the other hand, “believing that” is a belief itself, but does not require any proof or evidence, while “believing in” does and needs to be accepted concept or object. An example of “believing that” is religion. Any people believe in a god, but there is no evidence that is present. Therefore you
