on certainty 161

161.  I learned an enormous amount and accepted it on human authority, and then I found some things confirmed or disconfirmed by my own experience.

authority = authorship

if it is put that human authority –

is anything other than –

human beings’ authorship of their propositions –

then what is being put –

is a deception

it may have rhetorical value –

but such a pretence –

has no logical significance

what is confirmed –

is what is assented to –

for whatever reason –

by whoever

if a proposition is disconfirmed –

it is dissented from –

for whatever reason –

by whoever

any act of assent or dissent –

is open to question –

open to doubt –

‘my own experience’ -

is open to question –

open to doubt

is uncertain

© greg t. charlton. 2010.