• University of Amsterdam

• Qualitative

What counts as knowledge?

Around 1700, the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkeley asked himself, ‘is there a sound when a tree falls in a forest and there is no one around to hear it?’ His bold answer was esse est percipi – to be is to be perceived. Thankfully, Berkeley believed in a God who perceived everything, and thus safeguarded existence. Does a researcher produce knowledge when there is no one around to perceive it? This might be a tad polemical, but it does go to the core of the issue – when does something count as knowledge? To start with, Plato defined knowledge as a justified, true belief. Usually, scientists do fine when it comes to justification with their methodologies, protocols, and logs. With truth, things start to get troublesome. Opinion differs on the feasibility (be it for theoretical or practical reasons), but most researchers agree that truth is at least something to aspire to. Yet who decides when the truth is reached? The researchers themselves?

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