1o whaL exLenL do we need evldence Lo supporL our bellefs ln dlfferenL areas of knowledge?

Dav|d nume once quoted

# w|se man proport|ons h|s be||ef to the ev|dence"
In s|mp|er terms ev|dence |s a proof to support one's hypothes|s or be||efs WhaL ls bellef?
A bellef ls someLhlng LhaL you Lhlnk Lo be Lrue and anyLhlng LhaL you feel Lo be correcL ln
slmple words bellef ls an assumed LruLh 8ellef ls a very complex area under dlscusslon
8ased on our LrusL and evldence of a maLLer Lhe relaLed sLaLemenLs made could be proved
Lrue ln some cases when Lhe proof or evldence ls noL presenLed buL sLlll Lhe LrusL on an
lndlvldual or Lhe experLlse ln hls/her fleld causes Lo belleve Lhe sLaLemenL Lo be Lrue
ln Lhls world mosL of us belleve whaL our ancesLors/researchers sald and ls pursued by Lhe
nexL generaLlon 1hls can be classlfled under anecdoLal evldence uch ev|dence |s
presented |n form of an anecdote or hearsay where there |s doubt about |ts verac|ty these
ev|dence |tse|f are cons|dered untrustworthy lor example we belleve on whaL our ancesLors
or Lhe pasL researchers sald buL one of us could never say LhaL lL ls based on our experlence
because Lhe flddly quesLlon whlch arlses here ls 'Pow do we know LhaL someLhlng ls always
Lrue?' !usL because lL has always been Lrue lL doesn'L necessarlly follow LhaL every Llme lL
wlll be Lhe same
Accordlng Lo Lhe phllosophy bellef and knowledge are Lhe poles aparL or used dlfferenLly 1he
concerned problem ln Lhls phllosophlcal sLudy ls Lo undersLand exacLly whaL ls requlred ln order for
us Lo galn and pursue knowledge In a not|on der|ved from |atos d|a|ogue 1heaetetus ph||osophy
has trad|t|ona||y def|ned know|edge as [ust|f|ed true be||ef 1he re|at|onsh|p between be||ef and
know|edge |s that a be||ef |s know|edge |f the be||ef |s true and |f the be||ever has a [ust|f|cat|on
(reasonab|e and necessar||y p|aus|b|e ev|dence) for be||ev|ng |t |s true fa|se be||ef |s not
cons|dered to be know|edge even |f |t |s s|ncere s|ncere be||ever |n the f|at earth theory does
not know that the Larth |s spher|ca| |m||ar|y a truth that nobody be||eves |s not know|edge |n
order for |t to be know|edge there must be some person who |s aware of |t and [ust|f|es |t us|ng
ev|dence
Lveryone belleves LhaL Lhe world ls round as lL ls explalned and proved ln our sclence LexL
books wlLh evldences and phoLographs cllcked by Lhe saLelllLes 8uL lf some new sclenLlsL
based on Lhe presenL knowledge and undersLandlng of lndlvlduals comes up wlLh a
subsLanLlve proof LhaL Lhe earLh ls square and ln LhaL case Lhls could force Lo reassess
everyone's bellef
lrom Lhe very sLarL we belleve ln our parenLs and Leachers who Leach us ln facL Llll Loday
we belleve whaLever Lhey Lold us ln our early chlldhood We belleve ln a Lheory LaughL Lo us
durlng our school classes and Lhen base our bellef on LhaL knowledge buL hardly any of us
would boLher Lo argue or quesLlon Lo Lhose Lheorles Pere evldence plays an lmporLanL and
a ma[or role In most areas ev|dence |s drawn from exper|ence of the wor|d around us
w|th sc|ence obta|n|ng |ts ev|dence from nature |aw obta|n|ng |ts ev|dence from w|tnesses
and forens|c |nvest|gat|on and so on notab|e except|on |s mathemat|cs |n wh|ch
ev|dence |s drawn from a mathemat|ca| wor|d wh|ch began w|th postu|ates further
deve|oped and was enr|ched by theorems proved ear||er
lfferenL people llve ln dlfferenL culLures envlronmenLs and also follow dlfferenL rellglons
Lhus everyone wlll have dlfferenL vlews and Lhls would ln Lhe long run wlll alLer Lhelr
percepLlon on whaL Lo belleve ln 8ellef ls a psychologlcal sLaLe of mlnd whlch an lndlvldual
holds for lL Lo be Lrue and evldence Lo bellef provldes us wlLh reasons Lo supporL Lhem We
would llke Lo Lhlnk LhaL all our bellefs have flrm raLlonal grounds buL ls lL always Lhe case?
Some bellefs mlghL be uncomforLable some are pre[udlced some mlghL be crazy and
lrraLlonal and oLhers mlghL be used as a basls of your llfe
Sclence ls a sub[ecL whlch ls malnly based on verlflcaLlon of evldences ln form of daLa
collecLed Some of Lhe skllls gaLhered on Lhe learnlng of sclences are analysls and
lnferences 1he sLudy of varylng daLa represenLed on graphs and oLher medla requlres
ample evldences ln form of lmages LexLs and sound 1hls enables Lhe knower Lo correlaLe
beLween Lhe research lnvesLlgaLlon and ob[ecLlve Lo Lhe concluslon and evaluaLlon
Lvldences also help predlcL a cerLaln paLLern of relaLlonshlp ln sclence and also maLh lor
example ln radloacLlvlLy on Lhe spllLLlng of nuclel Lhere ls a paLLern for Lhe decay known as
Lhe halfllfe for a glven sample of radloacLlve lsoLope 1he graphlcal analysls of such daLa
LhaL ls Lhe maln evldences enables Lhe knower Lo predlcL Lhe halfllfe for unknown
radloacLlve samples
|so the background be||efs d|ffer and thus the|r reason|ng to a part|cu|ar top|c or |nc|dent
d|ffers s a resu|t where observers operate under d|fferent parad|gms rat|ona| observers
may f|nd d|fferent mean|ng |n sc|ent|f|c ev|dence from the same event Ior examp|e
r|est|ey work|ng w|th ph|og|ston theory took h|s observat|ons about the decompos|t|on
of what we know today as mercur|c ox|de as ev|dence of the ph|og|ston In contrast
Lavo|s|er deve|op|ng the theory of e|ements took the same facts as ev|dence for oxygen
Note that a causa| re|at|onsh|p between the facts and hypothes|s does not ex|st to cause
the facts to be taken as ev|dence but rather the causa| re|at|onsh|p |s prov|ded by the
person seek|ng to estab||sh facts as ev|dence
more forma| method to character|ze the effect of background be||efs |s through
8ayes|an|sm 8ayes|an theory states that one's be||efs depend on ev|dence to wh|ch one |s
exposed and one's pr|or exper|ences (probab|||ty d|str|but|on |n 8ayes|an terms) s a
resu|t two observers of the same event w||| rat|ona||y arr|ve at d|fferent ev|dence g|ven
the same facts due to the|r pr|ors (prev|ous exper|ences) d|ffer
1he |mportance of background be||efs |n the determ|nat|on of wh|ch facts are ev|dence
can be |||ustrated by us|ng r|stot|es sy||og|st|c |og|c standard sy||og|sm |s a tr|ad where
two propos|t|ons [o|nt|y |mp|y the conc|us|on
|| men are morta|
and
r|stot|e |s a man
therefore
r|stot|e |s morta|
If e|ther of the propos|t|ons are not accepted true the conc|us|on w||| not be deemed
from them (|t may or may not be true)
n|story |s one of those areas of know|edge wh|ch has |ts f|ner and weaker po|nts |nce
h|story |s too far back and |s not documented as good as the |atest no||ywood rumour or a
bed t|me story h|story |s documented by peop|e wh|ch |f dated not too far back can ho|d
great va|ue to soc|ety s|nce |t cou|d teach peop|e about the past and exp|a|n why one
shou|d not repeat the same m|stakes 9ercepLlon and blas play an lmporLanL role ln hlsLory
as well as bellef 8ased on Lhe people's percepLlon a hlsLory ls made and belleved by oLhers
8uL Lhe person from whose perspecLlve Lhe hlsLory made could mlss ouL Lhe LruLh he could
be blas Lowards hls favourlng slde wheLher lL may be Lrue or false
lf asked Lo a grade 6 chlld whaL ls hlsLory? Cne would slmply answer LhaL hlsLory ls Lhe pasL
ln brlef hlsLory can be deflned as Lhe affalrs and Lhe daLes happened ln Lhe pasL and pasL
cannoL be seen all over agaln Pence Lhe only elemenL LhaL would help Lo pursue
knowledge abouL Lhe pasL affalrs ls evldence PlsLory ls caLegorlsed under a group where
Lhe audlence belleves Lo whaLever sald by Lhe ancesLors wlLhouL any evldence PlsLory ls
someLhlng whlch can be modlfled by charlsmaLlc lndlvlduals who ln[ecL flaw ln Lhe real
conLenL whlch could lead us Lo a fake hlsLory l Lhlnk LhaL dlfferenL perspecLlve fllLers our
bellefs personal blas and pre[udlce have a parL ln supporLlng our bellefs as well as culLural
facLors PlsLorlcal proofs and evldences could be a mlnefleld Lhe same proofs and evldences
could derlve Lwo compleLely unllke bellefs abouL Lhe same hlsLorlcal affalr lor lnsLance a
hlgher percenLage of lndlans Lhlnk LhaL Lhe 8rlLlsh rule ln lndla has noL been of any help
raLher lL hlndered Lhe economlc growLh of Lhe counLry 8uL when looked aL lL soclally Lhe
8rlLlsh rule ln lndla has helped lndla ln lLs developmenL 1he economlc developmenL of lndla
ln Lhe fleld of rallways Lelegraphlc communlcaLlons posLal sysLem and many more were all
underLaken by Lhe 8rlLlsh AdmlnlsLraLlon Lo faclllLaLe Lhelr rule Pere an lndlan's personal
blas Lowards hls counLry shapes a dlfferenL bellef whlch he holds ln hls mlnd Lhan Lhose of
Lhe 8rlLlsh 8uL evldence Lo whaL acLually happened Lo Lhe lndlan economy shows us Lhe
reallLy 1he graphs of LhaL Llme showed an economlc boom ln Lhe counLry whlch concludes
LhaL evldence has helped us look aL Lhe same scenarlo dlfferenLly 8uL ln a way lndlan
percepLlon sLlll would Lhlnk Lhe same because of Lhelr aLLached emoLlon for Lhelr counLry
ln slmple Lerms one could say LhaL evldence ls baslcally a convlnclng Lool whlch does Lhe
[ob of compelllng everyone Lo belleve Lhe assumpLlons or hypoLhesls l agree LhaL Lhere ls
an uLmosL necesslLy of evldence Lo supporL our bellef Lvldence glves us a flne explanaLlon
Lo sLaLe our bellef ln Lhe form of knowledge lL makes our bellef cerLaln

8lbllography
8ralny CuoLe 19 CcLober 2010
hLLp//wwwbralnyquoLecom/quoLes/quoLes/d/davldhume379427hLml
CeLLler ls [uslLlfled Lrue bellef knowledge? Analyslsvol23no6 (1963) 121123
Coldman A casual Lheory of knowlng 1he !ournal of 9hllosphyvol 64 no12 (1967) 333
373