'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.




Saturday, May 15, 2010

on certainty 459

459. If the shopkeeper wanted to investigate each of his apples without any reason, for the sake of being certain about everything, why doesn’t he have to investigate the investigation? And one can talk of the belief here (I mean belief as in ‘religious belief’, not surmise)? All psychological terms merely distract us from the thing that really matters.



there is no reason why he couldn’t investigate the investigation –

but perhaps there were other things he wanted to do that were more important to him

like selling the apples

all psychological terms are a response to the unknown


© greg t. charlton. 2010.