What is bias all about- is probably the most common question in the Theory of Knowledge. As and how you explore ‘how you know what you know’ in Theory of Knowledge, you will come across many problems of knowledge. Bias is one of the problems of knowledge. Before we dig in deep to find out the reasons for bias, let us understand when can a piece of information be treated as knowledge.
Theory of knowledge-
Is all information knowledge?
Gathering information is easy because there are so many facts and figures scattered around us. Constructing knowledge from the available information is challenging, for the fact that collecting random information is cumbersome. There is so much data perceived by our senses, that our brain finds it difficult to process it all.
Now, the question is how much and what information will our brain process? Also, the construction of knowledge takes into granted the knowledge we already have and which has formed our belief. ‘What is knowledge’?-can remain unanswered due to human limitations in cognitive approach, imagination, comprehension, and many other things.
The crux is that the limited data which each of our brains processes, probably, depends partially on the discretionary power of the brain. The discretion of the individual brain is that it would register that information what it wants to register, and what connects with its previous belief. Some of the information may be impromptu and randomly picked up by the brain. Hence, the question here is on what basis a piece of information becomes knowledge?
Evidence to validate the information
To construct knowledge either from the information or from prior knowledge requires validation of information through empirical evidence. However, the question is what qualifies as evidence to validate knowledge?