on certainty 467

467. I am sitting with a philosopher in the garden; he says again and again “I know that that’s a tree”, pointing to a tree that is near us. Someone else arrives and hears this, and I tell him: “This fellow isn’t insane. We are only doing philosophy.”

say whatever you like –

and whether you are doing philosophy or not –

the claim of knowledge –

is either irrelevant or deceptive

the claim of knowledge –

is a claim of authority –

the only authority is authorship –

the authorship of a proposition –

is logically irrelevant –

beyond authorship –

any claim to an authority –

is rhetorical

rhetoric is the art of persuasion –

and its basis is –

a false claim to authority

the ground of rhetoric –

is deception

© greg t.charlton. 2010.