on certainty 558

558. We say we know that water boils and does not freeze under such-and-such circumstances. Is it conceivable that we are wrong? Wouldn’t a mistake topple all judgment with it? More: what could stand if that were to fall? Might someone discover something that made us say “it was a mistake”?

What may happen in the future, however water may behave in the future, – we know that up to now it has behaved thus in innumerable instances.

This fact is fused into the foundations of our language game.

        

                                                                                                                       

there are no mistakes –

only uncertainties

there is nothing to topple –

but pretence

what may happen in the future is unknown

and we don’t know –

that up to now water has behaved thus –

presumably the ‘basis’ of any such assertion –

is observation reports –

‘innumerable’ as these might be –

they do not add up to a certainty

© greg t. charlton. 2010.