on certainty 659

659. “I cannot be making a mistake about the fact that I have just had lunch.,”

For if I say to someone “I have just eaten” he may believe that I am lying or have momentarily lost my wits but he won’t believe that I am making a mistake. Indeed, the assumption that I might be making a mistake has no meaning here.

But that isn’t true. I might for example, have dropped off immediately after the meal without knowing it and have slept for an hour, and now I believe I had just eaten.

But still, I distinguish here between different kinds of mistake.

‘the mistake’ –

has no role to play here –

if you are certain – there is no mistake –

and if you are uncertain –

what you are dealing with –

is uncertainties –

not mistakes –

this ‘concept’ – if you can call it that –

of the ‘mistake’ –

just simply – does not work –

in either epistemological setting –

it’s a dud

© greg t. charlton. 2010.