on certainty 107

107. Isn’t this altogether like the way one can instruct a child to believe in God, or that none exists, and it will accordingly be able to produce telling grounds for one or the other?

what Wittgenstein is on about here –

is indoctrination

you put a view –

and work on the kid –

until he adopts –

and can operate with –

this con – of ‘telling grounds’ –

and then you tell yourself –

that the job is done

the problem is –

you are just fooling yourself –

if not the kid

your assumption –

of authority

and everything that flows from it

i.e. your telling grounds

is delusional

and the fact remains –

that despite Wittgenstein’s hopes –

and indeed his efforts –

children can – and do –

think for themselves –

and there’s a fair chance –

somewhere along the way

they learn how to –

to pick a fraud

© greg t. charlton. 2009.