When I got to Harvard grad school in philosophy, there was a happy event for me in the first week. The course was Epistemology, and it was being taught by Roderick Firth, internationally recognized at the time as a leading scholar in the subject.
Firth wrote four definitions of "certain" on the board, and before he'd put the chalk down I was on my feet to protest defects in the four. To my delighted surprise I discovered I was one of about seven grad students standing up and yammering at Firth. As an undergraduate I was usually the only blabber-mouth in class. I said to myself about Harvard, "This must be the place!" The point of the anecdote here: The word 'certainty' is now being used on the forum by folks who have not described their notion when they use the word. Try describing it, gang. You won't find it easy. The reasons for describing what you have in mind are, first, that, without making your notion serviceably clear, you may be talking past each other -- i.e. each has a different idea of what's at issue. Second, you may discover your unexamined notion is fatally fuzzy. Unfortunately, it can't be addressed adequately without some technical considerations -- e.g. the alleged certainty of tautologies, and the possible differences between "analytic" and "synthetic" statements. Still, when you use the word, you tend to think you have a serviceably clear notion in mind, so take why not a shot at it? ************** Plan your next getaway with AOL Travel. Check out Today's Hot 5 Travel Deals! (http://pr.atwola.com/promoclk/100000075x1212416248x1200771803/aol?redir=http://travel.aol.com/discount-travel?ncid=emlcntustrav00000001)
