While most would concede the validity of the adage that “knowledge is power,” few understand its true sway, for knowledge is a tool that can control and change the world, both one’s individual environment and the greater natural, social, and physical worlds.  But, in order to harness its power, one must first comprehend the nature of knowledge and how it is acquired.

A working definition of knowledge might be the following: factual or conceptual information acquired by study, investigation, observation, or experience.  And so, knowledge may be attained via the senses, the intellect, or a combination of the two.  While abstract concepts may become known via reason alone, most knowledge is accumulated using our senses and intelligence in concert.

Knowledge at its core must be true.  The fact that any number multiplied by itself yields that same number must be true or, it is neither a fact nor knowledge.  Conversely, an untruth no matter how vehemently believed cannot be knowledge.  Of course, knowing something to be false is also knowledge, given the fact that the falsity is itself true.

This leads us to another characteristic of knowledge: it must be certain; that is, the individual with said knowledge must fully believe it to be true.  A guess or dim recollection of something studied at some point in the past is not knowledge.  Suppose, for instance, that someone is asked the year in which Christopher Columbus stumbled upon the New World and answers “1492.”  The response, although correct, may or may not be indicative of that individual’s knowledge.  In such cases, it is the mental state of the one who knows that is determinative.

Although an individual state of mind may be significant in distinguishing knowledge from belief, knowledge, by definition, is not subjective, but rather objective.  That which is knowable is knowable to more than a single individual.  In this regard, knowledge must be defensible or justifiable, either by virtue of evidence or reliability of thought process through which it is derived.  A belief firmly held to be true by an irrational or deranged individual is likely not knowledge.

While true belief can also be a powerful tool in shaping our world, knowledge always trumps belief, because knowledge is not simply held to be true, but is true.  Often “stranger than fiction,” knowledge is at the core of all of mankind’s greatest discoveries.  All progress owes its allegiance to knowledge.  Under the light of knowledge and truth, all inconsistent beliefs are disproved and melt away, remembered – if at all – only as examples of human folly.  And, upon the firm foundation of knowledge are built increasingly higher levels of knowledge, permitting mankind and civilization to more fully evolve into that which we can yet become.