Can we know anything for certain?

Amila Lebbe

Knowledge is the awareness or understanding of a person or thing. It is where you know the
facts or information through an experience or education. The branch of philosophy that
studies knowledge or whether we can know anything is called Epistemology. Certainty is
when you are completely sure that something is correct. You are firmly convicted to that
case.
In some situations you are certain. For instance you know for certain when your birthday is
or you know for certain that there is no school on a Saturday. Ren Descartes wanted to
discover one piece of knowledge that he knew was certain. But he didnt find anything until
he realised that the very fact the he doubted meant that he was certain he existed.
But there are some circumstances youre not 100% certain for e.g. say your friend is going to
go to the cinemas with you, you wouldnt know for certain because she could become ill on
the day and cancel. Any numbers of scenarios are possible, so there is no way of being
certain. Most people when pressed will admit there is nothing they know for sure.
It seems realistic that we can never know anything. We can be absolutely sure, think it must
be so, have all the facts and information, but our history of discovery is made up of one
understanding replacing another. In my opinion if we wanted to know something for certain
then we would need evidence to prove the certainty.