on certainty 371

371. Doesn’t “I know that that’s a hand”, in Moore’s sense, mean the same, or more or less the same, as : I can make statements like “I have pain in this hand” or “this hand is weaker than the other” or “I once broke this hand”, and countless others, in a language-game where a doubt as to the existence of this hand does not come in?

we cannot know in advance –

what will or will not be questioned –

what will or will not be called into doubt

Moore’s claiming ‘to know’ –

is just ignorance

whether or not any description –

or any part of a description –

is called into question –

will depend on circumstance

i.e. there is the phenomenon of the phantom limb

the fact of it is –

any description can be called into question –

can be the subject of doubt

what exists is what is said to exist –

and what is said –

is open to question –

open to doubt

© greg t. charlton. 2010.