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At 05:14 PM 9/12/2006, Mark wrote:
Are you absolutely certain of that? Or even close to it? If so, on what is this certainty based?12:51 < echarp> can you show any eternal truth anywhere?-M: We can get close to absolute certainty.
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Lomax wrote:
Mark wrote:12:51 < echarp> can you show any eternal truth anywhere?
-M: We can get close to absolute certainty.
L: Are you absolutely certain of that? Or even close to it?-M: No, but I am highly certain of this.
L: If so, on what is this certainty based?
-M: Life experience and inference.
shanti
Mark, Seattle WA USA
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Mark’s response is good, I’d say, but I would quibble with one point. What he is describing would better be called “strong certainty,” rather than “absolute certainty.” Absolute certainty cannot be based on inference, which only suggests hypotheses and never certain conclusions. Indeed, Mark did correctly qualify his statement, and I missed it. He wrote “close to absolute certainty.” Not “absolute certainty.” Of course, close modifies absolute in a way that makes it not absolute. Merely very strong. Still, in ordinary speech we do commonly use “absolute” to mean “very clear” or the like.
At 06:59 AM 9/13/2006, Mark wrote:
Lomax wrote:Mark wrote:12:51 < echarp> can you show any eternal truth anywhere?-M: We can get close to absolute certainty.L: Are you absolutely certain of that? Or even close to it?-M: No, but I am highly certain of this.L: If so, on what is this certainty based?-M: Life experience and inference.shantiMark, Seattle WA USA
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Lomax wrote:Mark’s response is good, I’d say, but I would quibble with one point.What he is describing would better be called “strong certainty,”rather than “absolute certainty.”
-M: I have a strong certainty about absolute certainty.
L: Absolute certainty cannot be based on inference, which only suggests hypotheses and never certain conclusions. Indeed, Mark did correctly qualify his statement, and I missed it. He wrote “close to absolute certainty.” Not “absolute certainty.” Of course, close modifies absolute in a way that makes it not absolute. Merely very strong. Still, in ordinary speech we do commonly use “absolute” to mean “very clear” or the like.
-M: The idea here is that the logic of communication nails positions down to absolutes, even when the problem of induction limits our abilities to know with absolute certainty(and all of this I am highly certain of). So A=A and not A=~A.
shanti
Mark, Seattle WA USA
Mark wrote:Lomax wrote:Mark wrote:12:51 < echarp> can you show any eternal truth anywhere?-M: We can get close to absolute certainty.L: Are you absolutely certain of that? Or even close to it?-M: No, but I am highly certain of this.L: If so, on what is this certainty based?-M: Life experience and inference.
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