"The word "belief" is a difficult thing for me. I don't believe. I must have a reason for a certain hypothesis. Either I know a thing, and then I know it - I don't need to believe it"

Carl Jung’s distinction between belief and knowledge sheds light on a nuanced approach to understanding reality. For Jung, belief is problematic, a term laden with uncertainty, implying acceptance without sufficient evidence. He positions himself against blind assent, suggesting that his mind requires justification before granting acceptance to any idea or hypothesis. For Jung, belief is not an act of will or an arbitrary endorsement but a provisional state that exists only until knowledge replaces it.

Jung articulates a divide: on one side is knowledge, clear and direct, grounded in experience or sound reasoning. On the other side is belief, which falls short, lacking the certainty and justification that knowledge brings. His approach privileges evidence, reason, and personal verification over faith or tradition for its own sake. The idea that “I must have a reason for a certain hypothesis” draws attention to the necessity for investigation and consideration, before he can accept an idea, Jung requires a rational basis or empirical support. He appears to struggle with accepting claims on the grounds of tradition, authority, or cultural consensus alone. This intellectual stance is rooted in the pursuit of understanding, where hypotheses serve as bridges to knowledge but never substitutes for it.

By saying “either I know a thing, and then I know it, I don’t need to believe it,” Jung implies that knowledge makes belief obsolete. Once something is known, acceptance is no longer a matter of subjective belief but of objective recognition. For Jung, this is not just a semantic issue but a philosophical position: knowledge stands above belief as a higher, more reliable form of engagement with the world. Only through critical inquiry, testing, and experience does he grant his assent, and in that process, he elevates knowledge as the true foundation of understanding, relegating belief to the realm of the unproven or the provisional.