Can We Really Ever Know Anything?
...ynthesis was. "Photosynthesis is the method that plants use to collect the elements they need to live. A plant is a living organism with no power of locomotion, which can be a source of food for animals and a source of oxygen for animals, at the same time." I could not debate this point. A lot of what we know are just human perspectives, including knowing itself, with this we cannot do something if it is only what we have sought. (Santos, Ben) "To truly know something is to know it without distortion. Memory is very prone to defacement, even with the help of physical evidence and visual aids and all that cal, but the one offering the evidence can goad the person into remembering something from a bias point of view hence greatly distorting the out come of the person's knowledge." I found this quote to be very thought-provoking. I cannot truly agree with all of it, but it makes an excellent point. To know something is only to know it without distortion, meaning we probably don't "know" much. If our minds are susceptible to such things as being able to even alter our past memories, how can we be sure that we know anything? Our mind could be filled with thought and memories that have been altered through persuasion and whotnot, which can eventually lead to altering our choices and paths we take ever so slightly. If we truly knew anything, it would be our feelings, but not even those are safe from curruption. It may sometimes seem you know your own feelings, but that is not always true. If you knew your feelings, completely, you could predict your own actions, but there are different reactions, ones you would not expect, thus altering your actions. Not only that, what is the reason you may like a certain food, and someone else may dislike it? Or the reason you dream what you dream, you can't control it. Our own opinions differ depending on what we "know" and "feel", so depending on what one person "knows",the slightest change could make that person like or dislike a certain food, when they did not, originally; or dream something different one night. Our minds in every aspect are susceptible to curruption. Most of what we "know" is what we have been taught, but not every fact presented to you is true. Many can be false, and if they are false, but you're not aware of this, does it mean you "know" it? Or perhaps, you do not know, maybe the deffinition of the word is entirely false, maybe you can only believe. As Noah Weinberg says (Weinberg, Noah) (http://www.aish.com/spirituality/foundations/How_Can_We_Be_Sure_of_Anything.asp) "You have to become intellectually independent of the society that formed your beliefs.", so are we being conformed? If so, what is really the purpose of what we know if it's purpose is to comform us into ideals? Most of what we "know" is what we have been taught, and a vast majority of it without proof. If we are told something, does that really mean that we "know" it? If someone tells you something, it doesn't necessarily mean it's true, meaning a good chunk of what you think you"know", is something you really don't; and yet without evidence, what you "know" isn't really what you "know", but what y...