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Invent Yourself scripsit:
> Well, since your beliefs have varying strengths, you are not an example of
> the fellow in the paradox who, when discussing any one of his beliefs in
> isolation, insists that it's true and that he's certain of it.
Oh, I see. Well, just restrict his beliefs to those of which he is certain.
Some of them will still turn out to be false, human nature being what it is.
> > > But it cannot vanish and fail to
> > > distribute across your actual beliefs. It's ridiculous to detach the
> > > uncertainty about beliefs from the uncertainty about beliefs, and give
> > > them different values.
> >
> > Say what?
>
>
> It's nonsensical, isn't it!
After some scrutiny, I now suppose that you meant "It's ridiculous to
detach the individual uncertainty about each belief from the general
uncertainty about all beliefs". But this is still on the view that
certainty matters here. Leave all uncertain beliefs out of it, and the
paradox subsists.
Jorge says this is no paradox because it can be
resolved by saying where the quantifiers need to go. That assumes,
however, that it is legitimate to quantify into du'u clauses.
That gets you into trouble analogous to the other paradox
"Nine is necessarily greater than five, nine is the number of planets
in the solar system, so the number of planets in the solar system is
necessarily greater than five".
> You misjudge how much of the discussion I am able to reconstruct from
> memory. Lacking the text that's been deleted, I can't respond.
I am attempting to shift my style of quotation to include more context.
--
John Cowan jcowan@hidden.email www.ccil.org/~cowan www.reutershealth.com
"If I have seen farther than others, it is because I was standing on
the shoulders of giants."
--Isaac Newton