In a message dated 11/1/08 1:43:45 PM, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
> One sort of certainty is a condition of belief even though belief can never > be certain in a worldly sense > William's suggestion here is a good one. People think of their beliefs as having degrees of conviction, and when it reaches a high enough degree for them, they call it a "certainty". "I honestly believe John didn't steal the bracelet, and I'm absolutely certain Anna didn't." Years ago a standard definition of "certainty" was: "A true belief with sufficient evidence." This didn't work at all because, in effect, it simply shifted the whole burden of "certainty" onto the word 'sufficient'. The notion that "certainty" is some sort of absolute, mind-independent status has taken some bad whacks in the last sixty years, beginning with Quine's famous piece, "Two Dogmas of Empircism" in which he argued that even some sorts of statements accepted as "analytic truths" -- "necessarily" "true" -- were indefensible as such. ************** 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)
