Have you ever doubted about how much knowledge people should have in order to be confident with themselves?

I always ask myself this kind of questions. I always doubt about my knowledge, my self-assurance and all the things I’ve learned in my life.

“We know with confidence only when we know little; with knowledge doubt increases”. This is a quote adapted from JW von Goethe. However what does JW von Goethe want to communicate with the words: confidence and doubt?

The title above identifies a correlation between two key terms for knowledge interpretation. A corresponding link is made between confidence and doubt. To provide an explanation to the statement I will define those two terms.

What is Confidence? What is Doubt?

On one side, the word confidence has been defined as: “The state of feeling certain about the truth of something.” Talking about confidence, “it can be described as a belief in one’s ability to succeed.[2] In the purest sense, confidence express the knowledge you put in doing a determine kind of thing and more specifically what you’re good at.

On the other hand, doubt is “A feeling of uncertainty or lack of conviction”[3] As we can read from the Oxford dictionary’s definition, is clearly visible how those two nouns are the opposite of a very precise feeling. In life, as in school we always tend to think about our knowledge. “The concept of doubt as a suspense between two contradictory propositions covers a range of phenomena on a level of the mind it involves reasoning examination of facts and evidence and on an emotional level believing in disbelief. Branches of philosophy devote much effort to distinguish the dubious the probable and the certain.”[4]

Everyone is attracted by confidence and repelled by doubt, and this can be seen in every aspect of life, being it personal, professional or political

Talking about confidence, it doesn’t mean that doubt doesn’t exist, it means that we can develop confidence in order to be the stronger of the two. One thing that I have learned in my life is that we don’t live as being confident or self-doubting we live our lives as both.

The title confronts and contests the mutual relation between doubt and confidence

The title can be approached by investigating upon its reliability to two Areas of Knowledge: Ethics and Human Sciences. I decided to explore these two Areas of Knowledge because after I read the title several times, in order to understand it better, I realized the importance of these two AoK in relation to doubts and confidence. Ethics will give me the possibility to consider the role of philosophy in today’s knowledge. On the other side, I will investigate the role and the aspect of dictatorship.

The first question that comes up in my mind when I read the quote of JW von Goethe, is “how do we know when we know little?”

Socrates once said, “I know that I know nothing”, this caption is one of the most famous of all times about knowledge. Socrates was and still is today one of the most brilliant and important philosophers. He is well-known as the first moral philosopher and also the founder of Western philosophy.

The quote I stated before is the confirm that usually, people are more confident of themselves when they know little. “The phrase itself derives from Plato’s account of Socrates. In Apology, Socratic dialogue, Plato relates that Socrates accounts for his seeming wiser than any other person because he does not imagine that he knows what he does not know.” “I seem, then, in just this little thing to be wiser than this man at any rate, that what I do not know I do not think I know either.”

Analyzing the phrase that Socrates is trying to express in a modern perspective, when we think about how much we know, this is usually determined by how much we know we don’t know.

One example are the ignorant people, they tend to think that what they know is all they need to know, so it seems that they know everything. Seeing this from another perspective, when people comprehend how much there is to know that they don’t know, then what they know seems very little in contrast. I personally think that what Socrates is trying to express is that no one really knows how much knowledge they have, however either little.

On the other hand, one question that I have asked myself was “how is it possible that one of the most intelligent philosopher of all times doesn’t know nothing?” Socrates was known for his intelligence, knowledge and cleverness. He’s quotes has always been used in life, especially in school to let people understand that even the most intelligence philosopher of all the time can’t know anything. I believe that knowledge is a powerful tool we sometimes underestimate, but on the other hand it is my strong opinion that life in each of its aspects is as beautiful because of the missed knowledge we have. Because of doubts we cannot solve and questions we cannot answer. I believe a life with full knowledge on everything would not be healthy.

I personally think that what Socrates and in this case Ethics wants to explain is that “Nobody actually knows anything, but I actually know this thing, so I know something”. In life, no matter how much knowledge an individual is capable to acquire, that knowledge is still a mere drop in the ocean of available knowledge.

Differently form Ethics, In Human sciences knowledge is acquired through quantitative and qualitative data. Therefore, it is based on the variability of theories that interpret the non-spontaneous prediction of behaviours and comportamental choices. The second area of knowledge I decided to analyze is human sciences.

“To what extent are the human sciences reliable?”

“What constitutes good confidence and knowledge in the human sciences?”

The definition of human sciences from the oxford dictionary is: “A branch of study which deals with people or their actions, including the social sciences and the humanities, as contrasted with the natural sciences or physical sciences.”

Going through all the different aspect of this area of knowledge, I decided to investigate how the role of politics so global politics is related, linked, to knowledge.

One argument that is fundamental for the history and politics of any country is the role of the dictatorship. “Dictatorship, a form of government in which one person or a small group possesses absolute power without effective constitutional limitations.”

“To what extent can a government have an impact on citizens confidence?”

Looking at the role and at the function on citizens of the dictatorship, it’s possible to see how people react when they know with confidence and when they have doubt about something.

In July 2015, the latest round of elections reaching almost 100% voting turnout. Despite their want and desire of being Democratic Peoples, they have been classified as one of the most authoritarian and less democratic. The North Korea is known as a totalitarian state, managed by dynastic line of dictators. Since North Korea publicly executes its citizens for any anti-state actions, this is not a good idea. When voters decide to vote against the recommended d candidate, then that is expressed as a disloyalty and an act of crime. While North Koreans may want to put a stop to the countless human rights abuses, mass incarceration and widespread famine, there is no political method of doing so.

North Korean system of government is judged as insane also because of the cult of personality that surround the Kim family. In other words, the role and more specifically the function of dictatorship, in Korea as in other places of the world, is the proof that people nowadays, and in the past as well, are more confident with themselves when they know only a small part and linking back to Ethics, during dictatorship most of the people are ignorants. I personally believe that in that period of dictatorship, most of the population accepted passively. There is always someone in the society who has the doubt and the want to change thing, someone that wants more equality, more rights. In this case without any doubts people are desire to find whatever they found. As everything in life, dictatorship, can be seen from a positive or negative perspective. Dictatorship in fact, despite all the negative things, is known to lessen crime rate. Reading through newspapers and article I have found out that the crime rate is less because the punishments are considered very rigid, especially against criminal, in nations under the control of dictators. They also have the authority to impose material whenever they want. This is the reason why people are careful not to act in inappropriate manner or violate the laws and getting punished. North Koreans enforce disciplines because of the power of dictators to strict policies.”

To conclude, the title can be analyzed under different perspectives that both confidence and doubt and their reliability. Each perspective follows a different area of knowledge for which the viewer utilizes his ways of knowing to create a personal and subjective interpretation of a doubt. Analyzing both areas of knowledge I arrived at the conclusion that when you have a large amount of knowledge, you have less variables to consider when making conclusions upon different topics. However, I think that It becomes necessary to consider that the analysis of the prompt is limited to the subjective interpretation of terminology.

Overall, after reviewing, analyzing and exploring on both Ethics and Human Sciences, I personally believe that JW von Goethe’s quote is coherent, and I strongly agree with it.