Your complimentary articles

You’ve read all of your complimentary articles for this month. To have complete access to the thousands of philosophy articles on this site, please

If you are a subscriber please sign in to your account.

To buy or renew a subscription please visit the Shop.

If you are a print subscriber you can contact us to create an online account.

Articles

When Does Believing Become Knowing?

Valerie Mackenzie pins down the difference with some examples.

What is the difference between believing and knowing? When do we know when we believe or know and do we know when believing becomes knowing? Every new challenge has its obstacles and when embarking on these challenges, we may either doubt our ability to cope or believe that we will be able to accomplish our task. However, it is not until the challenge has been attempted and won or lost that we know.

Therefore, believing is the state of mind where we can choose whether or not to accept what we hear or read. We have the choice to consider second-hand knowledge, e.g.

…