What is the truth value of something that is uncertain of being uncertain?

  • Thread starter Thread starter WannabeSaint
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
W

WannabeSaint

Guest
What is the truth value of something that is uncertain of being uncertain?

Examples:
“I’m not certain that X is uncertain.”

“I dont know if X is true or false. But I also dont know that I dont know if X is true or false.”

"One can never know that for sure, but one can never know for sure that one can never know that for sure "
 
Last edited:
These things change in the course of the passing years, but I remember studying logic at a time when there were only two truth values, T for true and F for false. If you could prove a proposition was true, it was T, and if you could prove it was false, it was F. Anything else, and it simply didn’t have a truth value at all. The concept didn’t apply.
 
“I’m not certain that X is uncertain.”
Assuming there are three values, true, false or uncertain, this says that X might be uncertain, but it may have already been determined that it is true or false. “I am not certain that there are 7 sacraments is uncertain.”
“I dont know if X is true or false. But I also dont know that I dont know if X is true or false.”
This is problematic. The first statement should usually be accepted as true, but the second asserts the first is false. Uncertainty is irrelevant.
"One can never know that for sure, but one can never know for sure that one can never know that for sure "
Same as the second quote, but rendered universal. First it makes a presumably true statement about “that.” Then the second contradicts it by saying the first statement is uncertain, while telling us nothing about whether “that” is uncertain.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top