For Those NOT TRUE only

Originally posted by josephw
It looks as though you're saying there is nothing else besides your senses that confirms your existence. That you know of. I think. Anyway, isn't that like nihilistic?

I think the issue is that nothing other than your senses that confirms your existence doesn't also rely on your senses being reasonably reliable. That is, if your senses are highly suspect then any conclusions based on other sources would be too.

Originally posted by vistesd
1. See BigDoggProblem's reply above.

2. Technically I can't know that P (or that not-P) is the case, if it is false--since knowledge is defined as justified true belief. I might think I know, I might be "certain" that I know--but if it turns out to be not true, then I didn't know.

So then a fact (something that is the case) cannot be "not true"?

Originally posted by Fetchmyjunk
So then a fact (something that is the case) cannot be "not true"?

A fact is a fact—what is the case, whether I know it or not. A fact is neither true not false—it is a fact. (To say something like “all facts are true” would be to say nothing more than, “All facts are facts”. To say something like, “This fact is not true” would be to say nothing more than, “This is not a fact”.)

To say, “It is the case that ______________”, is to say that the facts are such and such. That statement (or belief, perhaps unstated) may be true or false. To say, “It is not the case that ______________”, is to say that the facts are not such and such—and likewise might be a true or false statement/belief.

Originally posted by twhitehead
I think the issue is that nothing other than your senses that confirms your existence doesn't also rely on your senses being reasonably reliable. That is, if your senses are highly suspect then any conclusions based on other sources would be too.

I think that's true. But there's another monkey wrench in the works. Our minds intercept what our senses gather and interprets those inputs. I don't think one can call the mind a sensory organ per se. The ideas and concepts we think we know can play into the interpretive process and skew reality. We might think that what we see is one thing, but may be another altogether.

Like when we look up into the night sky. What is it we see? Is it matter only? Or is it the works of a creator? 😉