Knowing and Doubt
We do not know, yet we must live as if we do. We assume there is air when we breathe and ground when we step forward. Sometimes the air is toxic, sometimes the ground is a pit. But we cannot live in constant doubt either. A life where we neither breathe nor take a step would not be called living. However, if we refuse to question when we must, we would be consciously breathing poison or willingly jumping into a pit.
For instance, the universe, God, justice, and our conceptions of God—we do not question these at all. We even doubt air and the ground, but we do not question these fundamental ideas that shape our lives. Many of us waste away chasing false concepts without even realizing it.
Fairy Tales and Childhood
How can we be so easily deceived by the fairy tales of today when we were raised with stories as children? Because most people never grow out of childhood. Since a society without children is impossible, we can tolerate a certain level of fairy tales. Often, we let those who never grow up continue with their childlike rhetoric just to avoid offending them. However, trusting their decisions, granting them power, or allowing them to influence society is a mistake. This is why people who lack conceptual analysis skills should not lead institutions—they may harm themselves and others.
We Cannot Escape Pretending to Know
Intuitively, the Earth seems flat, yet from space, it is round. At light speed, it also appears flat. We draw straight lines, but because the Earth is round, true straight lines do not exist. We create square objects, yet there are no perfect squares in nature.
We only see visible light, but infrared and ultraviolet exist. Snakes perceive heat, bats perceive sound. There are not just five senses—there are 32, including pressure and temperature. But we can summarize them all as touch.
A table is not a table in itself—it consists of various elements, but even elements are just our interpretation. A car is not a single object but a collection of multiple components. To someone washing carpets, light, electricity, and gravity are familiar concepts. But philosophers do not necessarily “know” them in the same way.
Most of what we think we know, we only pretend to know. The best we can do is to admit we do not know the fairy tale we are telling ourselves. However, it is also impossible to live without pretending to know—without speaking, reducing, and simplifying. We seem destined for a wavering life between knowing and not knowing.
Philosophy and the Discipline of Thought
When asked whether studying philosophy is useful or useless, we instinctively respond “yes” or “no” because that is what the other party expects. But there is no such simple answer. Philosophy is necessary as a discipline precisely because it reminds us that such simple answers do not exist. It is a constant warning in our minds that there are things we cannot know.
No One Knows the Story—Everyone Just Pretends to Know
Who truly knows which fairy tale? The words, events, and heroes of the story you just invented come from the endless depths of history. A person does not even know their own invention, let alone what they see with their own eyes. A finger can appear bigger than a mountain, and we often mishear the person next to us. Our minds are so fragile that they struggle to distinguish dreams from reality.
In such a confusing world, it becomes inevitable to engage in the conceptual analyses and debates that philosophy has long practiced.
