on certainty 162

162. In general I take as a rule what I found in text books, of geography for example. Why? I say: All these facts have been confirmed a hundred times over. But how do I know that? What is my evidence for it? I have a world-picture. Is it true or false? Above all it is the substratum of all my enquiring and asserting. The propositions describing it are not all equally subject to testing.

‘I have a world-picture.’ –

then presumably you can state it –

in the form of a proposition

is it true or false?

if you assent to it – it’s true –

and presumably you do –

if you ‘have’ it

the substratum of all my enquiring and asserting?

if by ‘substratum’ you mean –

that which is beyond question –

beyond doubt –

there is no such thing –

no such proposition

the actual substratum of enquiry and assertion –

is uncertainty

we use many different ‘pictures’ –

many different propositions –

all of which are open to question –

open to doubt

and the testing of any proposition –

is an exploration –

of uncertainty

all propositions – all proposals –

are equally subject –

to doubt

© greg t. charlton. 2010.