What Does It Mean To Say We Know Something?

When I say I know something, I mean that something has told me a claim and that I am aware of its possible or definite existence in this world. Knowing, to me, is not whether something is a fact, it is just whether or not one is aware of a substance. Knowing and believing are one and the same. To say that believing something is not the same as knowing something, would be absurd. You could even go as far as to say that knowing something is rare and most things that we are aware of are just beliefs. To many people, you cannot truly know something, until you can prove it. There are people on the other side of the world; that is something that I know, because I could go to the other side of the world and see the people and recognize that they are existing. We believe that certain history has happened. We have no 100% proof that anything we have ever learned in the past, hasn’t been fabricated. We simply believe in what we have been told by authoritative figures. Now, no one is going around and saying that The War of 1812 didn’t happen because we cannot prove it, but we do not possess technology that gives us the ability to travel back in time to witness every single event. We both know and believe that past events happened.
Another point, is that much of what we know is only because others have told us about it. As a child, many of our parents told us that a big man named Santa climbs through our chimneys (whether or not we had one) every year on December 24 and gives us presents based on how good we act throughout the year. As children, we were certain that he was real. We had no way of proving that he was real, but we simply believed. If your parent had never told you about that magical gift-giving man, you would not have known of him,up to a certain point in your life. Much of what we know is because we have faith in certain people. When people with authority, such as your parents, teachers, grandparents, government, etc., make statements, we will usually believe them. What we know is dictated by what they choose to make us aware of. If your parent wanted to tell you that instead of Santa, it was a giant magical helicopter that dropped gifts under your tree every Christmas Eve, you would believe it, therefore you would know it. A good percentage of what you know is based on your faith in knowledge of authoritative figures.What we know, is what we are aware of and what we are aware of is what we have been told.