on certainty 67

67. Could we imagine a man who keeps on making mistakes where we regard a mistake as ruled out, and in fact never encounter one?

E.g. he says he lives in such a such a place, is so and so old, comes from such and such a city, and he speaks with the same certainty (giving all the tokens of it) as I do, but he is wrong.

But what is his relation to his error? What am I to suppose?

there is no mistake here –

there is no error

what you have here is conflicting claims –

disagreement

unless one side folds and says – ‘yes you are right’ –

there is no resolution

I can continue to insist on my view of the matter –

argue the case

all that amounts to is –

rhetoric

despite what I may think –

there is nothing –

that guarantees

my point of view

and therefore –

it should be seen for what it is –

uncertain

© greg t.charlton. 2009.