'For the person or persons that hold dominion, can no more combine with the keeping up of majesty the running with harlots drunk or naked about the streets, or the performances of a stage player, or the open violation or contempt of laws passed by themselves than they can combine existence with non-existence'.

- Benedict de Spinoza. Political Treatise. 1677.




Sunday, April 18, 2010

on certainty 416


416. And have we an example of this in, say, the proposition that I have been living in this room for weeks past, that my memory does not deceive me in this?

        “certain beyond all reasonable doubt” –



yes – you can choose any proposition –

and make that a foundation for your thinking –

for practical purposes this might be a useful thing to do –

but only if you recognize –

that your thinking is not based on certainty –

that in fact it’s ground is uncertainty

another way of putting it might be to say –

don’t take yourself –or your thoughts –

too seriously


© greg t. charlton. 2010.