certainty does it exist

Forums: Philosophy, Certainty
Email this Topic • Print this Page

Does certainty exist?

Topic Stats
Top Replies
Link to this Topic

Type: Question • Score: 7 • Views: 4,804 • Replies: 84

No top replies

@martinies,

martinies wrote:

Does certainty exist?

to a point.. ha ha I couldn't resist.

Sure it exists but context is also important.

1 Reply

@Krumple,

Dosnt time rule out certainty.nothing can be certain in time surely

2 Replies

@martinies,

Certainty exists within the shadow of doubt.

Usually.

0 Replies

@martinies,

martinies wrote:

Dosnt time rule out certainty.nothing can be certain in time surely

Context is important. Otherwise you can just make games with it. You can say given enough time all things are certain.

If you lived for ever you could play the lottery and eventually you would win. Not only that but everyone would win eventually. So you can say for certainty given enough time everyone would win the lottery. There is no escape from that even though it is meaningless since we don't exist for ever.

1 Reply

@Krumple,

Yes see what you mean.if you did live for ever you would have to be certainty its self.ha

0 Replies

@martinies,

So it was a certainty but it isn't a certainty.

https://images.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-1pYH0TWSaNs%2FTcrXxE-3cYI%2FAAAAAAAAAkU%2F7llS2IwNdc0%2Fs1600%2FCurlyHoward.jpg&f=1

"Coitenty"

0 Replies

Seems to me that "certainty" has to exist...

...because it is certain that either certainty exists or it doesn't exist.

If it exists...it exists.

If it doesn't exist...the certainty that it either exists or does not exist...exists...

...so it exists.

In fact...saying "if it doesn't exist"...becomes absurd.

1 Reply

@Frank Apisa,

Clever!

I don't believe in "objective" certainty, but I do believe in "subjective" certainty, the feeling of certitude--which may evaporate with time.

0 Replies

@martinies,

Sure, "certainty" exists...as a psychological state. And the various conditions, and types of conditions, that provoke it also supply the context for "defensible" certainties.

0 Replies

@martinies,

I'm not sure. . .

0 Replies

@martinies,

I'm certain of death and taxes.

1 Reply

@Alqaholic,

Smash your finger with a hammer; that's certainty of real pain.

0 Replies

@martinies,

All concepts exist with respect to other concepts. Certainty expresses 100% confidence in the nature of a state of affairs or the occurrence of an event. All the words in italics are mutually interdependent concepts, and that is as far as the argument can go, because whatever can be said about other concepts applies equally to the concept of existence itself.

1 Reply

@fresco,

Ok .so then a relative thing cant be certain.

1 Reply

@martinies,

All concepts are embedded in relative linguistic contexts. Certainty is a concept that cannot transcend that any more than any other. The fact that we use phrases like " absolutely certain" is quite acceptable without needing to specify the context.
Ref:Wittgenstein:meaning is use. Rorty:Language does not reflect reality, rather it constucts it

1 Reply

To paraphrase Ambrose Bierce:

Being certain usually means being mistaken at the top of one's voice.

1 Reply

@fresco,

Can we say then that certainty is involed in event terms but of its self does not exist then.im thinking in terms of time and syncranisity certainty is involed in both.

1 Reply

@martinies,

If observers agree on what constitutes "an event", then they can talk of its certainty or otherwise. Events are always relative to "observers" whether the act of observation is hypothetical or actual. Thus to talk of ancient events such as the extinction of the dinosaurs, involves current hypothetical observation "in the mind's eye".
EDIT
Things (including "certainty") are only meaningful with respect to observers who "things" them.

2 Replies

@Frank Apisa,

Frank Apisa wrote:

To paraphrase Ambrose Bierce:

Being certain usually means being mistaken at the top of one's voice.

Boldly stated, sir.

0 Replies

certainty does it exist

Related Topics

Quick Links

My Account

able2know