on certainty 603

603. I am taught that under such circumstances this happens. It has been discovered by making the experiment a few times. Not that that would prove anything to us, if it weren’t that this experience was surrounded by others which combine with it to form a system. Thus, people did not make experiments just about falling bodies but also about air resistance and all sorts of other things.

But in the end I rely on these experiences, or on the reports of them, I feel no scruples about ordering my own activities in accordance with them. – But hasn’t this trust also proved itself? So far as I can judge – yes.

a system of propositions – of proposals –

is no more certain – than a single proposition –

a single proposal

regarding a proposition as part of a system –

may give you a sense of security  –

but in the end –

the system – is just packaging

the reality here is –

if you want to see where a proposition goes – what it offers –

you play along –

if playing this language-game suits your purpose –

you’ll continue to play it –

if it is the only option available to you –

you’ll make the best of it

‘so far as I can judge’ –

is a good way of putting it -

for it makes clear –

that any judgment you make –

will be incomplete –

will be uncertain

© greg t. charlton. 2010.