There's that word again! It really seems like such an ugly thing to me now. Quote below, from an interview in the New York Times with Daniel Dennet, author of one of the books I am currently reading. While the book is interesting, this statement is not.
Edited Oct. 03/06 - Certainty ReheatedSo what can you tell us about God?
Certainly the idea of a God that can answer prayers and whom you can talk to, and who intervenes in the world - that's a hopeless idea. There is no such thing.
I was thinking more about certainty over the past 24 hrs. One point I would like to make is that I believe that certainty goes hand-in-hand with credibility. Those who say they are certain about their religion or belief system have no credibility when you think about. I think this is why I am having some trouble reading Breaking the Spell because Dennet is so certain about his belief (or non-belief as it were).
I also came across this quote tonight:
“When one admits that nothing is certain one must, I think, also add that some things are more nearly certain than others”
-Bertrand Russell
It is this near certainty that I would like to lay out for myself in blogs to follow.
-Bertrand Russell
6 comments:
I quite like the idea of this blog Mr. Maitre d'. I look forward to dining here frequently.
I like it...but at the same time, you need to be certain enough about what you believe that you have some conviction about it. Don't you think?
It is a fine line between keeping some recognition that you are not certain about everything, and being so wishy washy about what you believe that you lack credibility.
There are no certainties, only convictions.
I can have total conviction that the U.S. will be destroyed at a particular date. So much so that I stake my credibility on it by announcing it to the world (as David Wilkinson did in the 90's). When the certainty does not materialize, all credibility is gone.
I believe there is a "god" as sure as I am breathing right now, but I can not be certain of something I can not 100%, beyond the shadow of any doubt prove.
Thanks for your help, I was looking for a belief word to replace certainty and I like "conviction". To me it says, "this is what I believe, but of course I can not be certain!"
I like the conviction wording. But be careful it doesn't become across as just a game of "playing with words" though!
Hey, reason m! Thank you for this posting of yours today. And for also reminding me [today] of my near-death status at my own blog.
The topic of "certainty" is one that I may briefly touch on, perhaps even tonight....
Hello!
Just introduce myself: I am a man (says my wife), I am 50 years old (hmm, that looks bad isn't it?) and I am a terrible bad programmer (I say myself).
My hobbies: computer (of course), my 17 years old son and of course my wife. I like to play billiard, I do a very little bit and very simple programming in VB and I try to make a site for my billiard-club in the near future.
big respect, Dennis from [url=http://www.myonlinepayday.com]Personal Loans[/url] website!
Post a Comment