The difference between believing and knowing: Which is more important? (Essay Sample)

The Difference Between Believing and Knowing:
Which One Is More Important?
Christine Nyambura Kamau
United States International University
Knowledge is a subgroup of true belief whereas, a belief is a mental state that may not consider facts (Losee, 1999). This essay aims at exploring the differences between knowledge and belief. This essay is important as it will unleash whether knowledge is merely a subset of true belief as it has been defined. The essay also aims at unleashing which of the two concepts, knowledge and belief is more superior than the other,
Believing in something does not mean that one has knowledge. (Pritchard, 1950 as cited in Brakel, 2010 p. 14). This is because, when one believes in something, it can either be true or false. Hence belief is prone to change. However, knowing something can only be true, however if it is false, then it cannot be considered as knowledge, hence knowledge is a subset of true belief. Belief, hence, can be regarded as a mental state but knowledge externally comes from the world (Brakel, 2010). For instance, a person can believe that a lion is a cat whereas a lion is not a cat. This is their belief which can either be true or not. But in knowledge, it can only be true without any argument, where in this case a lion is not a cat.