Quoting Arlo Bensinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>: > What Arlo should have said is "reasonably certain". There is, if we > press the issue, always a possibility the whole thing is an elaborate > hoax. (Referring to Ann Nichole Smith's death) Since I did not see her die, > I'm trusting the authority of > others. Were it ONLY Fox News that reported this, I'd be alert but > skeptical. When every major media group is reporting it, I'm > accepting but alert. When a good amount of time passes and nothing to > disprove the story has come out, I reach a point of "being as certain > as I can be", keeping in the back of my head that there is a slight > but undeniable possibility that she was abducted by aliens and is > living in joyous bliss with Elvis and Jim Morrison. As you yourself > said, Platt, we have to maintain some degree of skepticism, no matter > how minute or marginal. Do we have to act on it? No, of course not. > As that possibility becomes more and more minute, we can act with > reasonable confidence that its not true. That's about as good as it gets. > > So, yes, as Case states, we move towards closer and closer > approximations, reaching points where for all pragmatic purposes we > can say "we know", but always hanging onto that sometimes remote > possibility that "we, in fact, don't".
In this case, "nitpick" is the appropriate description, along with "stretching it a bit much." It reminds me of the Idealist's assertion that "We can't show the world exists apart from humans." I simply conclude that when it comes to ascertaining facts, "as good as it gets" is good enough for me. Let us not overlook, however, the inherent self-contradiction in the notion that we can never know for sure about anything, including, one presumes, that notion. But, I could be wrong. ------------------------------------------------- This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/ moq_discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
