tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post1414551923298636206..comments2024-03-28T14:16:42.371+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: The necessity for Firm PerswasionBruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-86740100789159097702016-06-21T09:10:09.788+01:002016-06-21T09:10:09.788+01:00Metaphysical assumptions are not just assumptions ...Metaphysical assumptions are not just assumptions - that is only the beginning. It is what happens afterwards that matters. How these assumptions affect subsequent experience. Certainty is partly psychological, and is also about true reality. But it cannot mean fully exact and complete knowledge, which is the only final truth. Therefore certainty must be contextual, and susceptible of improvement. Usually certainty presents itself in dichotomies - we can be certain which of two opposite options is true, but beyond that is inexact - and we move forward from there...Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-8760513949075642092016-06-21T06:44:00.282+01:002016-06-21T06:44:00.282+01:00But objection #1 is true, at least with regard to ...But objection #1 is true, at least with regard to most propositions. Contingent facts can be known by imperfect beings only contingently and imperfectly. (#3 is true, too, but is irrelevant. The others are false.)<br /><br />Your prescription is to change one's metaphysical assumptions, but it's not clear how that can create legitimate certainty. I decided some years ago to assume that God exists and that we have free will. But those assumptions are just that -- assumptions, working hypotheses. I haven't the slightest idea whether God <i>really</i> exists or whether we <i>really</i> have free will. My metaphysical assumptions, so far from giving me certainty, have underlined my lack of it -- since to <i>assume</i> something implies recognizing the possibility that it is not true.Wm Jas Tychonievichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07446790072877463982noreply@blogger.com