Philosophy · Unit 7

Knowledge

What knowledge is, truth, belief and doubt

Epistemology asks what separates knowing something from merely believing it and happening to be right, and the answer turns out to be surprisingly hard to pin down.

The unit covers what knowledge is, belief against knowledge, truth, justification, and scepticism - the position that we know far less than we assume.

This unit breaks down into 23 short steps and 120 questions, starting at difficulty 1 and building to 5. Below you can see exactly what it covers, how the path is structured, and worked examples with explanations.

Steps: 23
Questions: 120
Difficulty: 1-5

What this unit covers

What is Knowledge?
Belief vs Knowledge
Truth
Skepticism and Doubt
Justification

Where this fits

Follows Big Questions. Needs Reasoning and Logic.

Where people slip

Justified true belief looks like a complete definition and is not. Gettier cases produce all three conditions in situations nobody would call knowledge.

How the unit is structured

Knowledge runs as 23 short steps that unlock in order. 17 are practice rounds and 6 are challenge rounds that pull together everything before them. Questions start at difficulty 1 and climb to 5 as you progress.

Step 1 · easierStep 23 · harder

Challenge rounds

Example questions

30 real questions from this unit, with the answer and the reason behind it, grouped by what they practise. There are 120 in the unit altogether.

Belief vs Knowledge

Fill the blankLevel 1
1. A lucky ____ that happens to be correct is not the same as real knowledge.
- guesscorrect
- reason
- proof
- fact
Getting the right answer by luck is not knowledge, because it is not backed by good reasons.
Multiple choiceLevel 1
2. What is one key difference between merely believing something and knowing it?
- Knowledge requires that the belief is actually truecorrect
- Belief must always be written down
- Knowledge must be about the future
- Belief can only be about numbers
You can believe something false, but you cannot know something that is false.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
3. Which statements about belief are correct? Select all.
- A belief can be truecorrect
- A belief can be falsecorrect
- A belief is something a mind accepts as truecorrect
- Every belief must be correct
Beliefs can be true or false, which is exactly why we need more than belief for knowledge.
Match the pairsLevel 2
4. Match each word with its best short description.
Answer: Belief = Something a mind accepts as true; Knowledge = A true belief backed by good reason; Guess = An answer with no real support; Opinion = A personal view that can differ between people
Belief and knowledge differ because knowledge also needs truth and justification.
Odd one outLevel 2
5. Three of these are weaker than knowledge. Which is the odd one out?
- A justified true beliefcorrect
- A hunch
- A guess
- An unsupported opinion
A justified true belief is the classic recipe for knowledge, unlike a hunch, guess, or bare opinion.
Sort into groupsLevel 3
6. Sort each item as Knowledge or Mere Opinion.
Answer: Two plus two equals four = Knowledge; Water is made of hydrogen and oxygen = Knowledge; Summer evenings feel the most relaxing = Mere Opinion; Blue is a nicer color than green = Mere Opinion
Checkable, well supported truths count as knowledge, while personal preferences are opinions.

Justification

Multiple choiceLevel 1
7. In epistemology, the word justification means having...
- Good reasons or evidence for a beliefcorrect
- A large number of friends
- A very loud voice
- An old and famous book
Justification is the support, reasons or evidence, that backs up a belief.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
8. Which of these give good justification for believing your friend is at home? Select all.
- You just spoke with them there on a video callcorrect
- Their car is in the driveway and the lights are oncorrect
- You can hear them moving around insidecorrect
- You simply feel like it with no clue at all
Good justification rests on evidence, not on a feeling with nothing behind it.
Fill the blankLevel 2
9. A belief supported by good reasons and ____ is said to be justified.
- evidencecorrect
- luck
- volume
- age
Evidence and good reasons are what turn a mere belief into a justified one.
Match the pairsLevel 2
10. Match each epistemology word with its short meaning.
Answer: Truth = Fitting the way things really are; Belief = Accepting a claim in your mind; Justification = Having good reasons or evidence; Knowledge = Justified true belief
Knowledge classically brings truth, belief, and justification together.
Odd one outLevel 3
11. Three of these are trusted sources of justification. Which is the odd one out?
- Pure wishful thinkingcorrect
- Careful perception
- Reliable memory
- Expert testimony
Wishful thinking gives no real support, unlike perception, memory, or expert testimony.
Sort into groupsLevel 5
12. Sort each view by the epistemology debate it belongs to.
Answer: Foundationalism = Structure of Justification; Infinitism = Structure of Justification; Reliabilism = Source of Justification; Perception = Source of Justification; Correspondence theory = Theory of Truth; Pragmatic theory = Theory of Truth
Some views concern the structure of justification, some its sources, and some the nature of truth.

Skepticism and Doubt

Multiple choiceLevel 1
13. In philosophy, a skeptic is best described as someone who...
- Questions whether we can really be sure we know thingscorrect
- Believes every claim without checking
- Refuses to ever think about ideas
- Only studies plants and animals
Skepticism is the careful doubting of whether, and how, we can truly know.
True or falseLevel 1
14. Skepticism means accepting every claim you hear without question.
Answer: False
It is the opposite, a skeptic doubts and questions claims instead of accepting them blindly.
Fill the blankLevel 2
15. Descartes tried to doubt everything he possibly could, an approach called the method of ____.
- doubtcorrect
- copying
- voting
- guessing
Descartes used systematic doubt to find something he could not doubt at all.
Odd one outLevel 2
16. Three of these express doubt. Which one is the odd one out because it expresses certainty?
- I know this for certaincorrect
- Maybe I am only dreaming
- Perhaps my eyes deceive me
- I cannot be fully sure
A skeptic raises doubts, so the confident line about knowing for certain is the odd one out.
Choose all that applyLevel 3
17. Which of these are skeptical thought experiments or worries? Select all.
- The dreaming argumentcorrect
- The evil demoncorrect
- The brain in a vatcorrect
- The wet ground puddle
Dreaming, the evil demon, and the brain in a vat all push us to doubt what we think we know.
Put in orderLevel 3
18. Put the steps of Descartes method of doubt in order.
Answer: Doubt everything that can possibly be doubted -> Notice you cannot doubt that you are thinking -> Conclude that you must exist as a thinker -> Begin rebuilding knowledge on that firm base
Descartes doubted all he could, found his own thinking undeniable, and rebuilt from there.

Truth

Multiple choiceLevel 1
19. The correspondence theory says a statement is true when it...
- Matches the way things really arecorrect
- Is repeated very often
- Sounds nice when spoken
- Is believed by a famous person
Correspondence means a claim is true when it fits, or corresponds to, reality.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
20. Which of these claims are true? Select all.
- A triangle has three sidescorrect
- The Sun is a starcorrect
- The Moon is made of cheese
- Fish are a kind of bird
The true claims match reality, which is what the correspondence theory of truth is about.
Fill the blankLevel 2
21. The correspondence theory describes truth as a match between a claim and ____.
- realitycorrect
- popularity
- grammar
- emotion
On this view, a claim is true when it corresponds to how reality actually is.
Sort into groupsLevel 2
22. Sort each statement as a Fact that can be checked or an Opinion that can differ.
Answer: Water freezes at 0 degrees Celsius = Fact; The Earth orbits the Sun = Fact; Chocolate is the best flavor = Opinion; Winter is more fun than summer = Opinion
Facts have a truth value we can check, while opinions can vary from person to person.
Match the pairsLevel 3
23. Match each theory of truth with its core idea.
Answer: Correspondence theory = Truth is matching reality; Coherence theory = Truth is fitting with other beliefs; Pragmatic theory = Truth is what works in practice
These are three classic theories of what makes a statement true.
Odd one outLevel 5
24. Three of these are classic theories of truth. Which is the odd one out?
- The ontological argumentcorrect
- The correspondence theory
- The coherence theory
- The pragmatic theory
Correspondence, coherence, and pragmatic are theories of truth, while the ontological argument is about God's existence.

What is Knowledge?

Fill the blankLevel 1
25. The classic definition says that knowledge is ____ true belief.
- justifiedcorrect
- colorful
- popular
- ancient
For centuries philosophers defined knowledge as justified true belief.
Multiple choiceLevel 1
26. What does the branch of philosophy called epistemology mainly study?
- Knowledge and how we come to know thingscorrect
- What is right and wrong
- What exists and what is real
- Beauty and art
Epistemology is the study of knowledge, how we get it, and its limits.
True or falseLevel 1
27. Epistemology is the part of philosophy that asks what knowledge is and how we can gain it.
Answer: True
Yes, epistemology focuses on knowledge, belief, truth, and how we come to know.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
28. According to the classic justified true belief definition, which three things must be present for knowledge? Select all.
- The belief is justifiedcorrect
- The belief is truecorrect
- You actually believe itcorrect
- The belief is popular
- The belief is old
The classic definition needs justification, truth, and belief all together.
Odd one outLevel 2
29. Three of these are parts of the classic definition of knowledge. Which is the odd one out?
- Popularitycorrect
- Truth
- Belief
- Justification
Truth, belief, and justification are the three classic parts, and popularity is not one of them.
Guess the numberLevel 4
30. In roughly what year did Edmund Gettier publish his famous paper questioning the definition of knowledge?
Answer: 1963
Gettier's three page paper appeared in 1963 and reshaped modern epistemology.

Where these questions come from. Each unit starts as a plan of the concepts it should cover and the difficulty it should span. Questions are written against that plan with AI assistance, then checked by a validator that rejects anything without a single defensible answer, an explanation, or plausible wrong options. How we write questions sets out the whole process, and corrections are fixed in the bank and reach the site and the app the same day.

How you practise

This unit mixes 10 different question formats, so you are recalling and applying rather than recognising the same layout every time.

Choose all that apply
Fill the blank
Guess the number
Match the pairs
Multiple choice
Odd one out
Put in order
Sort into groups
True or false
Type the answer

Practise Knowledge

120 questions across 23 steps. Start with step one and crawl at your own pace.

Play this unit

Read about Knowledge

Explainers from our blog on what this unit covers. Each one ends with real questions from the bank.

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