Tuesday, October 20, 2009

on certainty 133


133. Under ordinary circumstances I do not satisfy myself that I have two hands by seeing how it looks. Why not? Has experience shown it to be unnecessary? Or (again): Have we in some way learnt a universal law of induction, and do we trust it here too? – But why should we have learnt one universal law first, and not the special one straight away?



I operate with assumptions –

which is to say I operate without knowing

when my assumptions are challenged –

they are revealed as uncertain

when my experience is challenged –

it is revealed as uncertain

induction is an argument to explain assumption –

to ground it in  immediate experience

once you see there is no ground to assumption –

induction is shown to be –

a useless argument


© greg t. charlton. 2009.