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„ Sometimes we hear reasoned arguments that oppose a view to which we are emotionally committed; sometimes we hear a passionate plea for a view we have good reason to reject.

Bearing this in Mind, discuss the importance of reason and emotion in distinguishing between Belief and knowledge. “

It is the way how people live, and the values of the situation they are living which refers back to the genuine difficulty of forming a Judgment. Serious moral conflicts between something clearly bad and something known to be good can be supposed by dogmatism. In which all of these uncertainties and clearness lies wholly in the will of the one choosing.¹

An act done out of a certain emotion is the same kind of act done for a reason. The way of knowledge ones recieved and the way it had affected the way of reasoning the acts done is compared to emotions and feelings. Emotions explain the desire for something and the reason is the emotion in a way that the emotion which includes some elements of belief. People are sometimes asked ‘what made u do it?’ and the answer for it may be ‘I was angry’ or ‘I was afraid’. But for the third person (objective) account might be ‘he had done it, because he believed he was afraid’. Even at this level plays the importance of the elements of belief a great Role.²

Motivating reasons but not grounding reasons are connected and clearly tied to the desire of the person. One has a reason in order to do something if there is something to be gained from doing it, and to think to have a reason can be only done if the one thinks that its worth to do it gain something by doing it. And in order to have a reason to do something must the one believe in it. The belief produces the desire that ones need when this act is rationally motivated. And to be motivated then it is reflected of seeing something as a reason, in which the one must believe of a worth achievement connected to the action. A product of belief is the pleasure a person can get from an end that he already desired. And in such a case like that can be also explained by the emotion which explains the desire.³

On the other hand, some Philosophers distinguish between knowledge and belief, by assuming and identifying ‘which is which’. People do believe but they do not know if their belief is true or not, they may not even be sure if what they know or what they do believe in is true. They cannot be accurate in assuring of the corrections of their classification. And to entertain the doubt as to whether the one truly believes what he claims to believe, or even whether to be sure that what he knows what he claim to know is true or not would not change. So in order to see and distinguish between Belief and knowledge we shall try to define these two words. So what is Belief and how can we define it, and what is the relationship between Belief and Knowledge? Belief is the knowledge one gets by conviction. It is a concept related to each individual. It is the inner thoughts or feelings inside each individual that gives him faith towards a specific thing, idea or someone[1]. And through this definition we can see the relationship between Belief and knowledge and how both of them depend on Individualism. It is through the way in which every individual the Information receives, and then the way he uses it in the real life.⁴

From another angle, it is seen as the doubt that all of this is such a basic human trait which makes all the differences between cultures or Individuals. Philosophers also suggest, that the process is meant to be susceptible to the error when the people take belief for knowledge or knowledge for belief, and that we always undertake this kind of second-order thought.

To employ the relationship between belief and knowledge in the real life, we will take a look at the Politics in the Middle East. As a Palestinian, I can say that it is clear to notice the relationship between Belief and Knowledge in everyday in our life. Even if we would like to distinguish between them, we can easily do that. In the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, we can see that two people in that area claim it. For example, the Israelis say that it is their Land because they believe that Moses was there and his Temple is in Jerusalem. The Palestinians on the other hand, believe that that piece of Land belongs to them. As a result of their belief they cannot agree and sit down for a resolution. The conflicts and the reasons in the Middle East are only a result of their belief, regarding to what they know or to what they claim to know. They are expressing their emotions in a way to present their belief on the ground.

People hear always pleas from both sides, but for these two cultures it is different because they are living the situation. They are the ones who can decide whether the Judgment is true or not. But the way that these cultures live and the way of knowledge everyone receives differs between the outcoming decisions from both sides. The Israeli would hear some pleas from the Palestinians in which they have good reasons to reject and deny and vice versa. Or the Palestinians say something which is good argument and discussion that an Israeli would reject because he is emotionally related to the fact and situation.

These examples establish several points: that we cannot take knowledge in replacement of our beliefs. We should learn the difference between both of them, even though they are connected in a way or another. And if we look to a third person (objective) who judges the situation in the Middle East without living it, we might see that his judgment must refer to some statements that he heard, in which it won’t make his Judgment certain because it depends on his sources. We can see from this that even our knowledge has its limits. Even though we can see that most of what we claim and judge as knowledge may turn out to be only pure belief. The same as a Philosopher said “...the distance between knowledge and belief is not as wide as it is sometimes presented“[2].

A person must have belief in something if he/she asks for it, even if he didn’t ask for it, or if he denies that he believes, even though he still believes in something, because he believes that he does not believe. Also one must have faith in his/her beliefs’ correctness. Beliefs are correct, and in my opinion I would say a belief is a result of emotions that one builds for himself through his whole Life through the way he built his knowledge. A belief is the truth that one builds to him/herself. When one believes in something or someone he/she knows it is true for him/her and he is emotionally committed to it. For example, I can distinguish between my belief and my knowledge through bearing in my mind that when I hear something about Palestine then I can’t Judge it reasonably because I am emotionally related to it, even if what I heard is true. Nevertheless it is the same thing when I hear a plea from the Israelis about the conflicts and this whole confused situation, then I would directly deny it as a first answer, but when I return back and think about it reasonably then I may discuss it and try to make it false and reject it in a way of a reasonable Judgment.

So, distinguishing between belief and knowledge through emotions and reason is something that the people live everyday. It is the way that they are psychologically connected, and the way they express their feelings and actions. And as the Philosopher Gilbert Harman said, it is only a matter of „Reasoning, Meaning, and Mind“.



¹ Reasoning, Meaning, and Mind „Gilbert Harmann“.

² Reasons and Values „E.J. Bond“.

³ Reasons and Values „E.J. Bond“.

⁴ The African Philosophy Reader “A P Roux, P H Coetzee“



[1] Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary

[2] The African Philosophy Reader “A P Roux, P H Coetzee“