on certainty 407

407. For even Moore says “I know that that’s…” I want to reply “you don’t know anything!” – and yet I would not say that to anyone who was speaking without philosophical intention. That is, I feel (rightly?) that these two mean to say something different.

any claim to know

is a claim to an authority –

the only actual authority –

is authorship –

and that does not need to be asserted

when people say they know –

invariably the authority they claim –

is an authority beyond authorship –

an authority they don’t have

therefore the claim to know –

is false and deceptive

© greg t. charlton. 2010.