A FEW DEFINITIONS

In the preceding article “Certainty and Objectivity” I used words that can be elastic in meaning, which isn’t helpful when precision is needed.  So let me nail down a few definitions.

Certainty:  Knowledge absent rational doubt.  Absolute certainty is not the ken of mere human beings, for it requires knowledge of every fact that touches upon the subject, which in turn requires knowledge of every fact that touches upon those facts, and so on.  In short, absolute certainty requires infinite knowledge, which is an impossibility for our finite minds.  However, we can know things with a certainty that makes anything to the contrary nonsense.  For example, I know that my mind is finite and that the universe objectively exists with such certainty.  (See below about “objectivity”.)  The term “virtual certainty” has been applied to this level of knowledge, and that strikes me as a useful epistemological term of art.  There are also scientific, mathematical, and logical certainties, such as the Earth revolves around the Sun and 2 + 2 = 4, most if not all of which are virtual certainties.

Objectivity:  The independence of existence from knowledge.  In other words, the universe and every object and occurrence within it exists whether or not I or anyone else knows it.  Bluntly, what is true is true, period.  Granted, some things occur that I cannot help but know.  For example, I have an idea.  However, the fact of that occurrence is not dependent upon anyone else’s knowledge of it, and it is still a fact that it occurred even if I later forget I ever had the idea.  Because I objectively exist, the effects of my existence also objectively exist.  So the truth is not, in any manner whatsoever, dependent upon knowledge of it.  Therefore, the objectivity of knowledge is not dependent upon its certainty.  Though it is possible to rationally doubt the knowledge of “X”, that lack of certainty does preclude the objectivity of “X”.  For example, I may lack the virtual certainty that God exists, but my knowledge that He does is no less objective.  God exists whether or not I know He does.  Conversely, certainty entails objectivity.  A certainty cannot be false.  Of course, I can be psychologically certain of a falsehood, but a false belief, no matter how dearly held, is not knowledge.  Knowledge, certain or not, is always true, and so always objective.

Knowledge:  Awareness of the truth.  We can have beliefs that are true, but they do not constitute knowledge if their foundation is fideistic rather than rational.  By rational, I mean the application of reason to the data of the senses, both internal and external.  Therefore, knowledge must be empirically grounded.  A belief is fideistic because it lacks this ground; it is the acceptance of a proposition “as-is”.  There is no awareness of the truth of the proposition.  There is only the desire that it be true.  For example, the knowledge that God exists is predicated upon observation of human nature, the human condition (i.e., the relationship of man to the universe), and the universe and the rational conclusions drawn from those facts.  A belief in God is no more than wanting Him to exist.  In this particular case, that want is wholesome.  It can drive firm belief, that psychological certainty noted above.  However, it is insufficient to produce an awareness of God.  That said, few beliefs are entirely devoid of knowledge.  For example, if I believe that God exists because my parents had told me He does, and it is my long experience that my parents have been correct in what they have taught me, then my reliance upon the authority of my parents is not without reason.  I can do better than that, but I do at least have a bit of knowledge of God.  So, when I have sound reason grounded in experience for accepting a true proposition, I have awareness of its truth however inadequate that reason and experience may be towards giving me certainty of it.  Certain or not, I have knowledge of it.