on certainty 552

552. Do I know that I am now sitting in a chair? – Don’t I know it?! In the present circumstances no one is going to say that I know this; but no more will he say, for example, that I am conscious. Nor will one normally say this of the passers-by in the street.

But now, even if one doesn’t say it, does that make it untrue??

the claim to knowledge is a claim to an authority –

yes you are the author of your statement –

but that is as far as your authority goes

if your claim to authority –

is just that you are the author of your statement –

then it is irrelevant

if you are claiming an authority beyond authorship –

then the claim is false

© greg t. charlton. 2010.