on certainty 234

234. I believe that I have forebears, that every human being has them. I believe that there are various cities, and, quite generally, in the main facts of geography and history. I believe that the earth is a body on whose surface we move and that it no more suddenly disappears or the like than any other solid body: this table, this house, this tree etc. If I wanted to doubt the existence of the earth long before my birth, I should have to doubt all sorts of things that stand fast for me.

Wittgenstein has all these beliefs –

and they all function for him

to doubt is to question 

it does not follow –

that if he were to question these beliefs –

to doubt them –

they would cease to function for him

in fact recognizing  –

the intrinsic uncertainty of his belief system –

may just give him –

a deeper understanding of his reality

© greg t. charlton. 2010.