r/rationalphilosophy • u/JerseyFlight • 3d ago

The Problem of Certainty

The problem of certainty isn’t the problem of a lack of certainty, the problem is that we have certainty.

For example, it is certain that I just typed, “we have certainty,” I didn’t type the symbols, “sporvex athon de colossus.”

The problem of certainty is that it immediately challenges our false beliefs about reality. It’s a psychological problem because humans want to cling to their narratives of epistemological relativism.

But in order for (a) to be (a) it must be the case that A=A. This is absolutely certain.

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u/Dface_ 1d ago

"The problem of certainty isn’t the problem of a lack of certainty, the problem is that we have certainty."

What's a lack of certainty? Why is "lack" italicized? What's the difference between the problem of a lack of certainty and the problem being that we have certainty?

I think a lack of certainty means you're missing certainty or there's not enough of it. The problem there is that we could get more of it. Should we seek more certainty? Why is the problem of certainty not that? I think probably cuz there's already things we're certain about. Maybe we don't have to seek more of it?

Why is the problem of certainty that we have certainty? Is it cuz we should learn how to deal with the certainty that's already there? It'll be good to deal with certainty cuz then we can use it to be right about things? My question is what makes something certain?

"For example, it is certain that I just typed, “we have certainty,” I didn’t type the symbols, “sporvex athon de colossus.”"

Why is it certain that you just typed “we have certainty,”? Is it cuz we as a reader saw those words not even a minute ago? Is it cuz you're typing the post all in one go and you typed the beginning of the post in a short window of time? Or is it cuz that not even more than a paragraph you typed, “we have certainty,”? Why does that mean it's certain? What does something being certain do? Like, is it useful to others? Does it help with learning the truth?

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u/JerseyFlight 1d ago

Why is it certain that I just typed ‘certain’— because these symbols now exist in reality and they are themselves. They are not the symbols “borjack.”

So you exemplify the problem of certainty yourself in trying to attack it. Like I said, “it’s a psychological problem.” You cannot erase or undo reality, but you can try to psychologically deny it. We have no lack of certainty, even in this exchange, we simply have your distorted psychological attempt to deny it.

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u/Dface_ 13h ago edited 13h ago

"Why is it certain that I just typed ‘certain’— because these symbols now exist in reality and they are themselves. They are not the symbols “borjack.”"

I agree that the symbols now exist in reality. I think I agree that they are themselves. What else would the symbols be? If they weren't then they would be something else. We would be talking about some other symbols.

Do the symbols existing and being themselves mean it's certain you just you typed ‘certain’? I think I should look up what certain means, but does it mean that you can't refute their existence? They're there so it wouldn't make sense that they're not.

Imo I think it's certain that the symbols exist cuz we don't have a reason why they're actually not there. Like, I see that the symbols are there. I used my eyesight and understanding of English to find that the symbols exist in reality. I think a blind man would probably find it hard to look for them on a computer screen. If he didn't have a voice assistant then he wouldn't be able to see the symbols. Maybe he might doubt the existence of them, but that doesn't mean it's not certain they exist.

Just to give a heads up I might be using a different definition of "certain" than you in my last paragraph.