Theory of Knowledge Assignment (1)

Question: If a community decides that a sentence like “2 + 2 = 5” is true or false , then does that fact make the sentence really true or false?

Unless the meaning of 5 or 6 is changed to 4, then that statement is not true. There is no evidence backing it up. People just believe it because an authority figure said it, ignorance is bliss. People could believe that it’s true, but that wouldn’t make it true. False statements may be acknowledged as true, but never the less, they are still false.

For example, in communist Russia during the pre-world war II period under the communist leader, Joseph Stalin, the Russians were brain washed. They behaved that all art that didn’t glorify Stalin or his communist regime was evil, the same went for literature, and Stalin preached that he was God. The broad statement that art and literature not glorifying communism spread evil, is completely false. This could be proven by testing the behavior of people who viewed lovely paintings, and it would be clear that it is false. Also logically, beautiful paintings that don’t deal with communism don’t spread evil. People actually enjoy art, and viewing a beautiful painting of a red rose will not inspire the viewer to do “evil” things. Finally, if paintings and literature inspired evil behavior, then why is there a large literate and artistic society worldwide who aren’t evil? As for Stalin being God, the only God-like thing about him is his power. He is nothing but a mortal, and that can be proven by DNA testing. Also, if he was God, then how come he doesn’t have any supernatural powers? He can’t be a God; he went through all the stages of human development. Therefore; these statements are generally false but with the use of media and propaganda, people believed them and maybe acknowledged them as true, but they aren’t .Truths have to be proven and have some logic.

People tend to believe false statements as true ones because they have been said by people of high positions. Sometimes people believe something just because an authority figure said it. They might acknowledge it as true, but it most definitely isn’t.

Samar Al Ansari
Grade 11.5
Oct 2, 2004