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Philosophy, It Seemed, Was One Essay

The central ideas about this knowledge may be categorized into four parts: knowledge, wisdom, belief, and opinion. Some are individualized -- some culturally based, some based solely on sensory perception, and some, from consideration. In its most practical state, "knowledge" may be information about which we are aware -- facts, figures, accepted truths, ways of doing things. Wisdom, in contrast, takes that knowledge and allows individuals to make judgments and decisions based on knowledge -- presumably gained through experience or the process of learning. Belief is a culturally (thus cognitively) based make up of what we hold to be true simply because we innately know it without the need of proof or method. Opinion, is a personalized belief of judgment that has no proof, no certainty, but generally takes in information (whether correct or not) and synthesizes it into an idea that allows for individuals to have stands and strong views on certain subjects or ideas. It seems that most philosophers...

Trust, for instance, involves individual responsibility and accountability -- therefore that trust must be based on something we wither know intrinsically or know experientially. The degree of knowledge, then, is where that knowledge arises, and how it transforms or aids the individual. For example, who would one rather have on a trip through the Kalahari Desert; a Rhodes Scholar who speaks the language, has studied the anthropological history of the Bushmen; or a seasoned tracker, survivalist who has not real factual knowledge about linguistics, colonialism, or history, but can clearly survive in the wilderness? Thus, the overwhelming issue is that often philosophy is relevant -- or utilitarian in its presumptions. However, simply being able to discuss and reinvent one's own personal believes makes it a powerful societal necessity that separates out the tactical and primitive society, from the strategic and advanced cooperative maze.

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