The following blog is a brief reflection I did a long time ago about certainty- defined as firm conviction. I thought it had some interesting ideas, so I wanted to share it.
I do not believe that we can be fully certain of the knowledge we acquire as the information that we receive from our senses is not completely truthful. As human beings, we are very limited in our physical capabilities. David Eaglmen highlights this limitation in his TED talk, giving an example of how our vision spectrum is confined to “visible light”, whilst we fail to see other types of light waves, like infrared radiation, ultraviolet rays, x-rays, gamma rays, and more. This suggests that we cannot wholly sense various elements that are present in our reality and that we can never truly be certain of something we consider as fact.
Another element that we have to consider in regard to the knowledge we think we possess is perception. Perception plays a role in the information we acquire. Said perception is influenced by expectations, past experiences, values, education, context, age, and more. Take expectations as an example. If you read the sentence “Paris in the the spring”, it is most likely that your eyes skip over the double “the”. This occurs because our brains register patterns that will help us understand the world. If there is a fault in one of those patterns, our brains are more prone to ignore the mistake because it does not serve us (unless this mistake is repeated multiple times, forcing us to consider what is truly happening).
I also consider that humans’ desperate desire to achieve certainty and knowledge about the world that surrounds us, although effective to our survival, can be detrimental in discerning our reality. I think that our “thirst” for information may lead us to make conclusions that perhaps do not portray things as they really are, all because of our need for a sense of control and power.
However, some factors influence whether certainty is more or less achievable.
- The first factor that influences certainty is direct observation; if we can see it, it is most likely to have an element of truth in it. But as I explained prior, our senses are not entirely reliable, hence why we require other factors that can help us achieve a higher degree of certainty.
- The second factor is reasoning. This means that we have to ponder the information we have and come to conclusions about it. Authority is also crucial. Where are we getting this information from? Is it from someone who specializes in the topic that we are striving to learn from? One has to be sure that the authority that we take knowledge from has shown to be credible in the past.
- The last factor is consensus. Is it something that a majority of people agree on? For example, most people can agree that the grass is green during the summer, but not everyone can agree that a God exists, hence why the latter is less likely to be considered as a fact or as truth.
The combination of all these factors can aid us in becoming more certain about the world that surrounds us, though it is always best to keep in mind that we cannot be 100% sure of our reality and that we have to keep a certain degree of doubt.
If you want to keep reading more philosophy questions, head to
https://youthfulreveries.com/: The Trouble with Certainty