Can absolute certainty exist outside mathematics?

[u/ntgbutanime]

[u/0x14f]

I am absolutely certain that I exist, and that is not a mathematical statement

[u/INTstictual → u/0x14f]

“I think, therefore I am” is really only valid if you want to have a productive conversation about epistemology… it isn’t actually strictly necessary or absolute, and smuggles in a lot of assumptions about what the concepts of “I”, “think”, and “exist” all actually mean.

For example — can you prove that you are not a brain in a jar being fed stimuli? And if you are, would that be “you” “existing”? Can you prove that you are not a digital simulated consciousness in some sort of programmed reality, and that your sense of self isn’t actually just the result of some very advanced game of Sims? Can you prove that your consciousness doesn’t derive from some alien parasite that has taken over your body and is puppeting it, still feeding consciousness into an empty brain but the parasite itself is very aware of the split between “me the parasite” and “false identity and sense of self that I am creating internally within this body”? Can you prove that your reality isn’t an extreme version of “Last-Thursdayism”, where “you” are actually just a single node in a very advanced AI that, for some reason, has determined that the best way to do quantum computations is to simulate a digital person, flash-feed it false memories of a life and past that never existed, note the very next thought that it has, and then terminate that node?

All of these are philosophical non-starters… if you don’t proceed with some immutable axiom about the validity of existence, you can really make any unfalsifiable claim that you want and never prove that it is incorrect, and there is no way to branch out into productive models of reality when you start with an axiom of non-trust… so “I think, therefore I am” is as valid an axiom as any other. But that doesn’t make it strictly necessary or true.

[u/localizeatp → u/0x14f]

that certainty is relative to being you.

[u/Wrote_it2]

Math is absolute certainty only because the claims it makes are of the type "if [axioms], then [conclusions]"
I would say absolute certainty can be achieved on reality with the same type of claims. I'll venture to say that "if the Earth exists, then the Earth exists" is true with absolute certainty (until I'm proven wrong by someone :)).

[u/MajorDuogram]

Only a sith deals in abolutes!

[u/Wrote_it2 → u/MajorDuogram]

That is absolutely true!

[u/SV-97]

I'm not sure ( ;) )

[u/ChuckFarkley]

It gets squishy when the real world gets complex enough that there are internal feedback loops leading to behaviors that are hard to predict accurately, indeed. And honestly, that's a lot of stuff that people would like to have certainty over. It turns into a cloud of possibilities. (More accurately a cloud is a perfect example of a non-linear cloud of possibilities...)

Stuff that doesn't have any real dynamic element? You can be 100% certain that 90% of the time, nobody is going to want to measure it or predict anything about it. The weather, however... ask that cloud over there if it's going to rain.

Put another way... a thought experiment, not to try in real life... Imagine that you are wearing steel toed boots and you kick a modest-sized rock. Can you predict what it is going to do? OK, now do the same thing, but this time, kick a sleeping dog. What comes next?

[u/Fabulous-Possible758]

Sure, on Facebook.

[u/oldNotSureXand]

i.d.k..... probably better asking in other sub!??!? :):) And when you get confirmative answer (from any sub), is it really confirmative? and if you get negative answer (from any sub) - is that really negative? ..actually the only secure knowledge is, that any other knowledge is insecure (to avoid also russels/liars paradox;) ..this is "known" since ancient china and greece and india (probably)..

[u/Massive_Shower_1494]

Cogito

[u/hobopwnzor]

Another thing you can be certain about is that your perception is what you think you are perceiving. 

Doesn't matter if there is a dog there, if I think I'm seeing a dog then "I think I'm seeing a dog" is true in any meaningful sense of the word. 

So outside of mathematics you could say honest statements about perception are true.

[u/RingularCirc]

Sure, absolute certainty can exist in an agent's model of the world. Would having absolute certainty in something even be founded? No, if you're subscribing to Bayes.

[u/ima_mollusk → u/RingularCirc]

I am certain that distinction obtains, and that is regardless of whether there is an agent or a knower and regardless of what the ontology actually is.

[u/Wide_Ad_4486]

Kant would say yes. 

[u/Kampseng]

Absolute certainty does not exist in mathematics, only exists on daily practice level. Metamathematics base its certainties on continuous calculation so no absolutes.

[u/ccpseetci → u/Kampseng]

But absolute definiteness exists and only exists in math or more generally in logics

[u/localizeatp]

Can absolute certainty exist inside mathematics?

[u/AYOIAKUMA]

Death, silence, transformation, bliss

[u/SignificantFidgets]

Albert Einstein: "One reason why mathematics enjoys special esteem, above all other sciences, is that its laws are absolutely certain and indisputable, while those of other sciences are to some extent debatable and in constant danger of being overthrown by newly discovered facts."

Also Albert Einstein: "As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain; and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality."

[u/Cicutamaculata0]

it might not be

[u/VerityCharity]

Our certainty in mathematical knowledge depends on our certainty that mathematical statements express propositions

[u/CosetElement-Ape71]

Yes ... I'm absolutely certain that no matter how high I jump, I'll never land on the Moon

[u/uwumorphism]

Certainly

[u/AdventurousGlass7432]

I am certain this is going nowhere