<h1>What is the ultimate source of knowledge?</h1>

The traditional scientific way of acquiring knowledge, called the Scientific Method, tells us that we have to test as many possibilities as we can and if a hypothesis (a sort of assumption) that we have is reproducible, our hypothesis becomes a verified theory. A reproducible hypothesis is one that we tested in all possible contexts with all seriousness, trying for it to fail, and didn't manage to make it fail in any context where it shouldn't have according to our predetermined parameters.

Following this process means that we cannot get lost. We part from previous proven assumptions (reproducible hypotheses) and we head into the unknown, step by step, following the scientific method and tracing our steps, not like Hansel and Gretel, with crumbs of bread, but with solid research, development and reports. We consider that a hypothesis properly shown to be reproducible is enough of a landmark to start to give a next step without fear of getting lost along the way.

![](https://i.imgur.com/xTHPTuk.jpg)

<h1>The foggy road to knowledge</h1>

But as we saw, we trust our previous assumptions. When we follow the sources of the knowledge that we possess, what we think we knew, what we think we read on this piece of paper that says that Dr Abad tested five thousand rats and had a 100% reproduction rate on his method of making their brains grow with Vitamin B, that there were hundreds of witnesses and his paper was revised by the highest authorities in the field; when we follow the sources of knowledge like the branches of a tree, without getting lost, without losing the sight of this continuous thread of fiber that makes up the branch, without jumping from one branch to another, where do we get? Where do we arrive and how do we know that what we think we know is completely accurate and not an illusion made by a broken mind? How do we trust our beliefs, even if we're actually seeing the proof right in front of our eyes, if we know that our minds can be cheated, that we can dream, that there _may_ be more to life than what we thought there was, and this would cause us to believe in a lie?

> Well, that's easy! Observation! Empiricism! You're standing on the branch! Just follow the thread and you'll get there, to the end, to the tip, to the point where the branch stops being a branch and starts being air!

![](https://i.imgur.com/jns7JFx.jpg)

<h1>The map to the source of knowledge</h1>

But this is assuming that there is a beginning, a direction... Where did science start? How do we know that they followed the branch perfectly and didn't get lost in the first and most basic little step that they took and then perfected their art when it was too late? That they are walking on the right branch, on the right direction, not somehow turning and climbing around the wide branch in a way that will never get them to either the trunk or the tip? Because this is science: leaving the tree and going to the sky. We don't get closer to the source but we get further and further away from it. We walk from the first point of knowledge and away from it with each step that we take through research and theory crafting.

> > We don't get closer to the source but we get further and further away from it
>
> Getting away from what? What are you even talking about?

First comes the essential question. What if everything were our imagination? What if when I see and analyse, what I see and analyse is something created by me, for me or something circumstancial in my perceived reality? Can I even be certain of anything? Yes? No? What question should we even ask?

![](https://i.imgur.com/JABWVm5.jpg)

<h1>The question that we should ask</h1>

When we are uncertain, it is like being alone in a crowd. There are too many things and none of them are relevant to our pursuit. So it is just like being completely alone in nothingness, floating in uncertainty. When we're in that nothingness, in the void of knowledge, we may come to the idea that we *may* actually know something. It's what we tell depressed people. You're not *actually* alone. There are people who can help you. When you ask yourself "what do I know?", you know that you asked yourself a question. The question certainly exists, it is a thought. (If this is unclear, [read this post with the explanation](https://steemit.com/philosophy/@cryptosharon/cogito-ergo-sum-the-meaning-behind-i-think-therefore-i-exist).)

>I think, and since there is a thought, since there is something that I _at least_ have the illusion that I see, this imaginary or real _thing_ that I'm imagining exists at least as a concept. I think; therefore, a thought exists; therefore, something exists.

![](https://i.imgur.com/od89a9E.jpg)

<h1>We know... just something...</h1>

Something exists! We're not in the void. We know something. An idea floats before us and it is the knowledge that something exists. And I can see it. I exist, too. But can I know anything else? I know that the question exists, the thinker and the thought thing. But... what else do we know? Can I know that _you_ exist? Can anyone prove to me that they are not part of my imagination? As far as I know, everything is inside my head, inside the world in my thoughts. And even if you were real, the _you_ that I see is not the real _you_ but the _you_ that I create and conceive in my mind because of external stimuli.

I realise then that I know nothing else. If I try to follow empiricism and look at my hand to try to realise that my hand exists, I actually realise that I do not know if my hand is just a part of my imagination. *It exists* for certain, at least as a concept, but I know nothing more.

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It's hard to follow the foggy road to knowledge, and it's discouraging to know that in the end, we still know almost nothing. Societal rules, languages, everything that is pre-set and told to us may have as a basis an idea generated arbitrarily and nothing solid to support it. We cannot trust others to know, we cannot trust ourselves to know. Then what can we trust? How can we do anything? I hope to be able to give the answer in a future post. But for now, I leave you with this.

How did you like this post? What do you think? Any reflections to share about it? Don't forget to vote and comment! :D
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