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    Certainty is only achievable through the mind reflecting ... — Carmelics
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    Home/Skepticism
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    Certainty is only achievable through the mind reflecting on the content of its own thoughts, not through the opinions of others.

    SkepticismTruth & Knowledge
    ?Rate how convincing each reason is below to see the overall strength.
    1 reason for
    2 reasons against

    Reasons For

    1 perspective
    Reason for
    ?
    • 1.The opinions of others, however authoritative, cannot produce the kind of certainty that reason alone can reach.
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    • 2.Only a mind (cogito) reflecting on the content of its own thoughts can achieve genuine certainty.
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    Reasons Against

    2 perspectives
    Reason against 1 of 2
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    • 1.Reid and the Common Sense tradition argue that certain foundational beliefs—such as the reliability of memory and perception—are warranted through social trust, not introspection.
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    • 2.Testimony-based knowledge, as Coady demonstrates, is epistemically primitive: most of what individuals count as certain they have never personally verified through private reflection.
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    • 3.Therefore, introspective certainty is parasitic on interpersonal epistemic practices rather than independent of them.
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    Reason against 2 of 2
    ?
    • 1.Wittgenstein's rule-following paradox shows that private mental reflection alone cannot fix the meaning of concepts required for any certain judgment.
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    • 2.If meaning is constituted through shared linguistic practices, then certainty presupposes the testimony and norms of a community, not solitary cognition.
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    Consciousness & Mind1 linked

    Related

    If meaning is constituted through shared linguistic practices, then certainty pr...Only a mind (cogito) reflecting on the content of its own thoughts can achieve g...Reid and the Common Sense tradition argue that certain foundational beliefs—such...Testimony-based knowledge, as Coady demonstrates, is epistemically primitive: mo...
    +3 moreShow less
    The opinions of others, however authoritative, cannot produce the kind of certai...Therefore, introspective certainty is parasitic on interpersonal epistemic pract...Wittgenstein's rule-following paradox shows that private mental reflection alone...

    Similar

    Only a mind (cogito) reflecting on the content of its own thoughts can...80%Commitment is essentially personal and accessible only through a mode ...80%Judgement cannot consist in awareness of ideas not present to our mind...79%Frege holds that thoughts are true or false absolutely, not relative t...78%

    Source

    AI-extracted1/3 agreementValid
    SEP: francisco-sanches
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    This letter of August, 1641, can be found in Correspondance du P. Marin Mersenne, religieux minime. X, Du 6 août 1640 à fin décembre 1641 (1967: 730) wherein the author praises Sanches’ ingenious exaggerations concerning the possibility of acquiring perfect knowledge, and criticizes Cartesianism for not being able to advance (“non progreditur”) beyond its “hyperbolical doubt” (1967: 730) . But again, the letter is too late to serve as proof of Descartes’ knowledge of Sanches’ treatise prior to t
    Extraction notes

    Validity: Extracted via Max plan + API grounding/validity checks

    Details

    Type
    claim
    Perspectives
    3 (1 for, 2 against)
    Edits
    1 edit