We cannot know anything with certainty.
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Man is not the “rational animal,” but only the animal that is capable of rationality, as Jonathan Swift said in a letter to Alexander Pope.
The brain is geared first to make snap judgments.
We need this for survival, but it’s a curse because snap judgments can be entirely irrational.
It is hard work to think instead of just responding.
We need this for survival, but it’s a curse because snap judgments can be entirely irrational.
It is hard work to think instead of just responding.
Objectivity is a relative term.
You can be more or less objective in limited ways, but never completely. That would be a god’s eye view.
We refuse to recognize this, and so we fail to learn to live with our inability to be sure we are right.
Instead, we keep insisting we know.
You can be more or less objective in limited ways, but never completely. That would be a god’s eye view.
We refuse to recognize this, and so we fail to learn to live with our inability to be sure we are right.
Instead, we keep insisting we know.
We deceive ourselves.
We accept as certainties ideas we are comfortable with and refuse to acknowledge the uncomfortable.
We select among our memories those we want to retain and lose others, as memory shifts, fades, and edits.
We accept as certainties ideas we are comfortable with and refuse to acknowledge the uncomfortable.
We select among our memories those we want to retain and lose others, as memory shifts, fades, and edits.
Few people asked themselves if they are even remembering correctly.
What is being remembered may be merely imagined, this is known as the “false memory syndrome.”
What is being remembered may be merely imagined, this is known as the “false memory syndrome.”
Even our senses lie to us.
We think it is solid evidence for the truth of a statement about reality when we say: “I saw it with my own eyes.”
Yet our eyes don’t provide us with representations of what actually is.
Color is simply a property of the perceiving mechanism.
We think it is solid evidence for the truth of a statement about reality when we say: “I saw it with my own eyes.”
Yet our eyes don’t provide us with representations of what actually is.
Color is simply a property of the perceiving mechanism.
We are wrong if we think our senses take in exactly what goes on in the world around us.
There is no simple mapping of a colorful world on every nervous system, allowing all creatures to see the same reality.
Bees’ eyes see a world shaped in ways humans couldn’t recognize.
There is no simple mapping of a colorful world on every nervous system, allowing all creatures to see the same reality.
Bees’ eyes see a world shaped in ways humans couldn’t recognize.
We see and hear and smell and taste as we need to; we don’t latch onto the Truth while bumble bees get it all wrong.
Each creature perceives the world in its own way, suited to its own survival.
Each creature perceives the world in its own way, suited to its own survival.
Perception is also manipulated by expectations.
Interpretations are shaped by a framework built from the individual’s experience.
If, in the past, a person was badly bitten by a dog, how he sees dogs is literally different from how others do.
Interpretations are shaped by a framework built from the individual’s experience.
If, in the past, a person was badly bitten by a dog, how he sees dogs is literally different from how others do.
The skeptic is saying that we have only a tentative grasp on truth and falsity.
There is no excuse for certainty; there are only degrees of assurance.
One can believe passionately, but with the awareness that what one believes is likely to be false.
One can believe passionately, but with the awareness that what one believes is likely to be false.
Scientists do manage to accumulate information for which they have solid evidence.
But a good scientist doesn’t claim he’s certain.
He understands that science is tentative.
He brings skepticism to the table.
But a good scientist doesn’t claim he’s certain.
He understands that science is tentative.
He brings skepticism to the table.
The skeptic says:
"Don’t tell me what to think."
"I want good reasons to accept an idea."
"Bad logic isn’t going to satisfy me."
"Emotional claims can’t compel me."
"Authority cannot direct me."
"Tradition will not bind me."
"Don’t tell me what to think."
"I want good reasons to accept an idea."
"Bad logic isn’t going to satisfy me."
"Emotional claims can’t compel me."
"Authority cannot direct me."
"Tradition will not bind me."
Reason carefully, take into account relevant information, learn all you can, but still refuse to be absolutely sure.
You can never be certain that what you take to be true is actually so.
Instead function with probabilities.
You can never be certain that what you take to be true is actually so.
Instead function with probabilities.
The Delphic oracle said that Socrates was the wisest man of all.
How could this be?
Socrates said himself that he didn’t know anything.
But that is just the point.
Socrates meant he didn’t know in the sense of knowing with certainty.
His wisdom lay in recognizing that.
How could this be?
Socrates said himself that he didn’t know anything.
But that is just the point.
Socrates meant he didn’t know in the sense of knowing with certainty.
His wisdom lay in recognizing that.
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