It seems that nothing is ever certain

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blase6

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It is self-evident to me that I cannot ever be certain that any statement is true. Therefore, I am going against the common assumption that objective truth is knowable. I no longer produce fruit in my search for truth, so I have attempted to refute my judgement. I cannot. It is not enough for me that any particular statement is reasonable to believe. If I cannot be absolutely certain of anything, I can never satisfactorily know anything.

Try to refute my claim.
 
blase6 said:
It is self-evident to me that I cannot ever be certain that any statement is true. Therefore, I am going against the common assumption that objective truth is knowable. I no longer produce fruit in my search for truth, so I have attempted to refute my judgement. I cannot. It is not enough for me that any particular statement is reasonable to believe. If I cannot be absolutely certain of anything, I can never satisfactorily know anything.

Try to refute my claim.
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There is always the seemingly trite response that it would be impossible then for you to know that you cannot be absolutely certain of anything. The more involved explanation is that this is an enthymeme, where you are already assuming as an implied premise that some things are in fact knowable and true. Such as the very reasoning upon which you base your assertion that you can’t be absolutely certain of anything.
 
Of course, I am not even certain of the truth of my original statement.
 
tdgesq said:
Or of this statement, ad infinitum. Why make a “truth” claim at all if you can’t know it’s true?
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That is because the concept of truth is so fundamental to how human beings think, that we cannot communicate without creating a statement which is evaluated as being truth. However, this is only obvious to me for the most simple observations within my own mind and in communication, and not in the external world.
 
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