ON CERTAINTY

On Certainty is a philosophical text written by Ludwig Wittgenstein. The main theme of the work is that context plays a role in epistemology. It was published posthumusly from his notebooks, and is composed of 676 lines of argument. "Although the notes are not organized into any coherent whole, certain themes and preoccupations recur throughout."^[1]

Explanation

Wittgenstein asserts an anti-foundationalist message throughout the work; that every claim can be doubted. Since Descartes, philosophers have sought a logical foundation in which knowledge is made certain. This has always failed. Instead, according to "On Certainty", one must admit that every proposition will always be doubtable, but certainty is possible in the assuming of at least some propositions. "The function [propositions] serve in language is to serve as a kind of framework within which empirical propositions can make sense".^[2]
This idea is extremely relevant, because arguably, it subverts the skeptical hypotheses. It follows from this idea that when one is talking about flowers, asking them if they really know whether the flowers exist or not, doesn't make sense. It is just outside the language game of current assumptions. The doubting of these assumptions, Wittgenstein argues, causes the destruction of language and even thought. This is bad for the skeptic because: "Skeptical doubts purport to take place within a framework of rational debate, but by doubting too much, they undermine rationality itself, and so undermine the very basis for doubt."^[3]

See also

• Here is a hand
• Philosophical Investigations - another book by Wittgenstein
• Philosophy of action field of philosophy in which On Certainty played a large role

External links

• Source Text

References

• ↑ Analysis