on certainty 340

340. We know, with the same certainty with which we believe any mathematical proposition, how the letters A and B are pronounced, what the colour of human blood is called, that other beings have blood and call it “blood”.                                                                                                                                  

if a proposition’s use is stable –

this is only a measure of its utility –

not its certainty                                                                                  

a mathematical proposition –

is a description of an operation –

a practice –

as with any description –

it is open to question –

open to doubt –

the history of mathematical theory –

is evidence of this –

if any evidence is needed

how the letters A and B are pronounced –

is not a matter of certainty –

it is a matter of circumstance –

of practise – of usage –

the same is true –

with the colour of blood –

I don’t know with certainty –

that other beings have blood –

or know with certainty –

that they call it ‘blood’

© greg t. charlton. 2010.