613. If I now say “I know that the water in the kettle on
the gas flame will not freeze but boil”, I seem to be as justified in this “I
know” as I am in any. ‘If I know
anything I know this’. – Or do I know
with greater certainty that the
person opposite me is my old friend so-and-so? And how does this compare with
the proposition that I am seeing with two eyes
and shall see them if I look in the glass? – I don’t know confidently what I am
to answer here. – But still there is a difference between the cases. If the
water over the gas freezes, of course I shall be as astonished as can be, but I
shall assume some factor I don’t know of, and perhaps leave the matter to
physicists to judge. But what could make me doubt whether this person here is
N.N., whom I have known for years? Here a doubt would seem to drag everything
with it and plunge it into chaos.
‘If I know anything I know this’ –
is just straight out rhetoric
the idea of ‘greater certainty’ –
puts pay to the whole notion of certainty
if certainty itself is a matter of degree –
then it is uncertain
‘I don’t know confidently what I am to answer here’ –
‘some factor I don’t know of’ –
at the heart of any so called claim to knowledge –
is what is not known –
and for this reason –
the claim to complete or certain knowledge –
is false and pretentious
‘If the water over the gas freezes, of course I shall be as
astonished as can be’
astonished or not –
the proposition is a proposal
–
open to question – open to doubt –
uncertain
‘But what could make me doubt whether this person here is
N.N., whom I have known for years?’
who’s to say?
but if a doubt should arise –
the world does not fall apart –
all that has been damaged –
is your delusion of certainty –
and that’s a good thing –
it might put you back –
in the real world
© greg t. charlton. 2010.
