on certainty 117

117.  Why is it not possible for me to doubt that I have never been on the moon? And how could I try to doubt it?

First and foremost, the supposition that perhaps I have been there could strike me as idle. Nothing would follow from it, nothing be explained by it. It would not tie in with anything in my life.

When I say “Nothing speaks for, everything against it,” this presupposes a principle of speaking for and against. That is, I must be able to say what would speak for it.

any proposition can be questioned –

doubt is always possible

how you go about doubting  -

depends on how flexible you are in your thinking –

and how imaginative you are

it might strike you as idle –

however put as a problem of physics –

it is anything but idle

and if you don’t make some kind of intellectual effort –

nothing will follow

nothing will be explained

nothing will tie in with your life

‘Nothing speaks for, everything against it’

is really a comment on the speaker –

not the proposition

(c) greg t. charlton. 2009.