on certainty 650

650. This surely means: the possibility of a mistake can be eliminated in certain (numerous) cases. – And one does eliminate mistakes in calculation in this way. For when a calculation has been checked over and over again one cannot say “Its rightness is still only very probable – for an error may always still have slipped in”. For suppose it did seem for once as if an error had been discovered – why shouldn’t we suspect an error here?

the mistake doesn’t exist –

what you deal with in any calculation – is uncertainty

when you check a calculation –

you are recognising uncertainty

the rightness of the calculation –

is an assumption –

effectively a pragmatic assumption –

you assume the rightness –

to go forward –

this assumption – like any assumption –

is open to question –

open to doubt

this does not stop us operating –

uncertainty –

it is the ground of action

‘for an error may always have slipped in’ –

is only to say –

you can never be sure

you follow practises –

you make assessments –

you make decisions –

you go forward –

in uncertainty

© greg t. charlton. 2010.