In order to understand good reasoning we should examine the concepts of believing and knowing. To believe something means that you think that it is true. In order to know something you must also believe it to be true, but for it to count as knowledge it must be proven as true. Believing is middle ground between having an option of something, and being certain of something.
Believing and knowing are not interchangeable terms. They are distinctly different from each other. Take for instance the following example from Wikipedia, "Consider someone saying 'I know that P, but I don't think P is true'. The person making this utterance has, in a profound sense, contradicted themselves. If one knows that P, then, amongst other things, one thinks that P is indeed true. If one thinks that P is true, then one believes P." It doesn't make sense to say that you are not sure about something which you know; however it does make sense to say that you can't be sure about something which you believe.
If you claim to believe something then you are saying that you think that to be truth, but it could turn out that you are wrong. If something is knowledge it has been proven to be correct and can under no circumstances be proved wrong. Consider the following example from Wikipedia:
"Jeff thinks that a particular bridge is safe, and attempts to cross it; unfortunately the bridge collapses under his weight. We might say that Jeff believed that the bridge was safe, but that his belief was mistaken. We would not say that he knew that the bridge was safe, because plainly it was not."
In order for us as humans to have good reasoning skills, we should strive to ensure the statement in question is supported by knowledge and certainty, not just opinions or beliefs. I think it is difficult to make yourself aware of your beliefs and differentiate between what you believe is true and what you know is true. All our lives we may have been told things by people who we view as knowledgeable and so therefore accepted those ideas as truths. Now we must reevaluate those concepts and decide for ourselves whether they are ideas that we believe are true or if we know they are true.
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