Essay On Doubt And Doubt

Doubt is not a comfortable position, but certainty is an absurd one

DOUBT AND CERTAINTY: A PHILOSOPHICAL RELATIONSHIP OF THE TWO PARADOXICAL NOTIONS

I. INTRODUCTION

It is the human nature to be somewhat terrified to the unknown. However, the world is a giant conglomerate of doubt. An extensive analysis is subjected to an extensive doubt. On the other hand, humans continuously seek for certainty regarding a specific situation. We want to be certain and aware on what is coming, in order to be prepared and fully know the truths. However, is it possible for humans to achieve certainty with everything? What would the world be like if humans do not have any hint of doubt?

The avenue of philosophy is primarily about addressing the fundamental

EXPOSITION OF THE TWO NOTIONS

A. Understanding Doubt

Doubt is generally defined as a state of mind; some would say an affliction of the mind. “It refers to a condition in which one is unable or unwilling to accept, on the face of it, a given statement as true.”1 When we say we are in doubt, what we mean is that we are not altogether certain about the correctness of a proposition, the reliability of a person or even the existence of something.

Not all doubts are created equal. Doubt in its various forms exists. One of these is in the form of quotidian doubt which pertains to suspecting that the proponent of a proposition is most probably not telling the truth, and at the same time, may even have reason to do so. For instance, when a very probable suspect who is questioned by the police asserts that he is innocent, one may not accept the statement as absolutely true. Additionally, if a doctor were to tell a close relative

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1 Habermas, Gary R.(1990). Dealing with Doubt. Retrieved from http://www.garyhabermas.com/books/dealing_with_doubt/dealing_with_doubt.htm

statement as absolutely true. Additionally, if a doctor were to tell a close relative of a seriously ill patient that there is a very good chance of recovery, one may have some some doubts about what the physician

“Confronting factual doubt, then, might involve bolstering a belief by providing reasons for it.”3 For instance, an astronomer communicates that he was able to discover a new galaxy on a specific celestial location. With this, other astronomers will direct their instruments toward the reported coordinates in order to prove if this is indeed true. This gesture is an expression of doubt from a truth-content point of view. In the same way, take the case of a student who is performing an experiment in a physics laboratory in order to verify a certain law of physics stated in a lecture. Why should he do it? Does he not trust his professor or the text book? The act of doing the experiment is a scientific ritual by which the student says: ‘Yes, my teacher may be right in what he says, but unless I do the experiment myself and verify it to be true, I really cannot accept its validity.’ Such factual doubt arises not so much by distrust in the integrity of the source (Quotidian Doubt), or even necessarily from the implausibility of what is stated (Skeptical Doubt), but rather due to the reason that the proponent could be mistaken, and scientific results need to be validated by people beyond and away from the source through independent observations. Consequently, no matter how reliable the proponent which propagates a truth, unless