Fear and Knowledge

940 Words4 Pages
Nobel laureate Marie Sklodowska -Curie, argued that “nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be understood.” The relationship between fear and knowledge has been discussed since Classical Greece; philosophers like Plato and Socrates, later inventors like Einstein and even today’s writers like Jostein Gaarder have divergent views on this issue and the question of knowledge in general. In this essay, I want to argue that a broader knowledge and thus broader understanding of the outreach of the unknown, will contribute to the recognition of ignorance and therefore knowledge as well as ignorance will both create the notion of fear. This vicious circle is sustained by discourses and therefore statements, beliefs and practices that produce knowledge as well as fear, such as nurture and indoctrination. Ignorance regardless the cause of its presence, is able to create the notion of fear. An ignorant child will not understand that a darkened room contains the same dangers as an illuminated room: none. In this way fear of the dark is developed, a fear for something that is not visible or palpable. This shows that knowledge is not just simply knowing, but is also created by being able to reason. The fear of not being able to reason, is also present because people will not be able to observe and thus understand what is happening in the dark. This inability to use all your senses in able to understand what is happening, creates fear for the unknown; or better formulated: fear for the insensible. As Plato argued around 400 Before Christ: “We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.” Being afraid of the unobservable is adopted as normal, while being afraid of the observable will be tragic and not understood. By stating this, Plato argued that fear should not be able to exist when one is able to
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