Posts Tagged ‘certainty’

I often feel that the modern world has gone mad, but I must admit that I was caught off guard when I discovered in the eighteenth-century philosopher Thomas Reid (1710-1796) an epistemological source of our condition.  The madness of the modern world is its solipsistic undercurrents, which leave us feeling painfully alone. Read the rest of this entry »

Most of us assume that certainty is an unqualified good.  Who wouldn’t want to be sure that they’ve chosen the right spouse, job or college?  Nevertheless, we need to question closely the desire for certainty.  What do we mean by certainty?  Are their different legitimate levels of certainty?  Can we ask to have certainty in every circumstance?  A false step here can lead to consequences as dire and diverse as despair, inability to act, and even mass murder. Read the rest of this entry »