The Reliability Of Knowledge Based On Evidence

Reliable is something you can believe and proved from someone, somewhere or something. Knowledge is an information or facts from experiences, so reliable knowledge is meant to be a trustable information. The evidence is a fact whether a proposition is true. But to be a reliable knowledge, should there be a lot of evidence that can support the knowledge?

There is a fun story that can be true or not. From old times, many people found the most reliable knowledge is that for which there is the most evidence. However, some others would say that they are reliable even though there is less evidence or none of the evidence. Both of these fields depends on each person’s perspective. This essay with a focus on the link between proof or evidence, as a source of reliability. Therefore, for this question, I think reliable knowledge is that for which there is the most evidence. However, there can be others might think the evidence is not that important to be a reliable knowledge.

Reliable knowledge has been handed down from time to time. The subject Mathematics can be an example of a reliable knowledge due to experiments of old scholars. Long ago, math scholars would have found common math or mathematical formulas through numerous studies, failures, and successes. They would leave evidence of their failure or success, so they can learn from their mistakes. In order to make up for the same mistake, they will surely make a record on paper or somewhere they can see it again. That is why the thing they wrote is called by evidence and it is still written so far, helping us with solving difficult math equations or formulas. By their failures, it has proved the answers. For real life example, there is a mathematical formula called ‘Pythagoras theorem’ a2+b2=c2. when I asked my mother about the formula, she said she still remembers this formula and every time she uses it to get the c2 which is the length of the hypotenuse. The formula actually works with the triangle every time. That means, even though our generation was different and has changed, the math formula has not changed at all.

Up until now, there is more evidence that people have used before, so we can assume that this math formula is reliable. Therefore, based on the subject mathematics, if there is more evidence the knowledge is more reliable. On the other hand, knowledge from the past cannot always be decided right. Because it may be just the majority of people agreed that they had the same answer and that is the right answer. As an example that I mentioned before, it is not always possible to define that the formula a2+b2=c2 for a triangle is right. Because the formula cannot be proven within different types of systems like hyperbolic geometry or spherical geometry and so on... What if the math scholars just decided to do a2+b2=c2 as a right formula even though it is wrong and does not fit with the other geometry. Because we think many people have been using it for a long time, we can believe that is true and trustable. However, that cannot be always the truth. There might be some hidden problems or secrets from the formula. For example, there were two scholars who were both solving the same math problem. However, the two scholars had a different answer. If it is such a new math problem that no one has ever solved, there will be no ground to support their argument. That is why we cannot tell who is right or wrong. Maybe they might argue that the wrong answered person is right. It is therefore clear that reliable knowledge based on its evidence is reliable, but sometimes it might only show it will be true for one fixed system or it is the first answer, so we cannot trust it all of them. It depends on the person who solves the problem.

Nevertheless, sufficient evidence is a reliable knowledge. Because as much as evidence you have, the easiest you can prevent future events by using the reliable knowledge based on shreds of evidence. If there is no evidence, there is no way to know what will come and how to prevent it. For example, In the subject geography, I learned that there is a place named the Mississippi River. In the Mississippi River, before humans built flood mitigation strategies, people who lived in the Mississippi River were hard to prevent the flood because they did not know when to evacuate and the proper day when the flood will come. They may have insufficient evidence that can’t support their claim that future natural events will actually cause due to the flood. However, after the events cause a huge disaster and damage to human life, they started to record the highest flood among the years and the magnitude which shows how big the flood was. Therefore, based on their strong evidence they recorded, now they can assume a reliable knowledge that one in a hundred year has a huge flood and there is a dam that can handle it. Moreover, they realized every 7 years there is flooding.

As more people have evidence, the more the people can collect data and the data becomes a reliable knowledge that can prevent future events. Nonetheless, there can be some unexpected values, so avoiding future events will be impossible. Sometimes, the evidence that we believed that is reliable and sure about it can give us a different result for some reasons. For that reason, it is not true that even though there are as many pieces of evidence it is reliable knowledge. Change can happen every time. For example, as I mentioned about the flood in the Mississippi River that floods every 7 years, can give a different result. What I mean is, the flood does not flood at the same time on the same date that people expected. It is not always sure that the flood will come every 7 years. Because of some climate changes or late monsoon coming, can cause the flood in a different date, such as 1 year or 2 years later than the expected day. This means the sudden events can break down the rules that knowledge that we knew that has more evidence is not always reliable.

To sum up, for the question ‘the most reliable knowledge is that for which there is the most evidence’ it can be reliable knowledge when there is more evident due to the knowledge from the past till the present and the events we can prevent based on the knowledge that has lots of evidence. However, this knowledge can’t be decided as a reliable knowledge only by the evidence. It might be wrong. Also, there might be unexpected situations that didn’t happen before at all. Therefore, it depends on the person believes the evidence or not. It is important to be sure about reliable knowledge in real life. Because, all the things we are studying now, is mostly about knowledge that is based on evidence, that's why we are believing the knowledge in the textbook is reliable, so reliable knowledge is important.