Knowledge, belief and opinion may seem similar at first glance, but upon closer inspection, the three are vastly different. Knowledge is something that can be empirically proven is true, while belief and opinion do not necessarily rely upon facts.

For example, believing in a deity. There is no concrete proof that gods exist, and yet 85% of the world’s population are adherents to a religion with a supreme being. This is where belief comes into play. Believers can only have faith that their numen exists. They cannot touch, see or feel them, in spite of their desire to feel a superior presence in their lives.

Having faith in a higher power can bring a sense of security to a person, not just in turbulent times, but also from every day-to-day life. It implies that everything happens for a reason- a comforting thought to some. However, this takes away the accountability of people’s actions, choosing instead to blame a corrupt being (read: Satan). rather than their own reprehensible choices. In short, belief can often times be unfounded.

Opinions are like belief in that they can often be formed with no real logic behind them. A prime exhibit of this is prejudice. The literal meaning of the word -in Latin- is ‘prae’, meaning before or in advance, and ‘judicium’, judgment. Overall, it means to judge something before truly knowing it. Opinions are also hard to dispel or criticise, as people become defensive when they are told they’re wrong. It’s important to remember that challenging the idea is not attacking the person.

Knowledge is an amalgamation of both facts and opinion, but they both have to be true. If they aren’t then it is false knowledge in that you wrongly think you know something through either ignorance or misinformation. As Sir Francis Bacon famously proclaimed; “Knowledge itself is power”. It allows us to understand and advance, which is where it differs from beliefs and opinions. If we were constrained by what we thought was right, we would never get anything done- we would be in perpetual disagreement with one another.