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Home > Who Shaves the Barber? > Steve Patterson: Certainty and Logic | WSB #26
Podcast: Who Shaves the Barber?
Episode:

Steve Patterson: Certainty and Logic | WSB #26
Category: Society & Culture
Duration: 01:03:50
Publish Date: 2018-02-06 05:00:00
Description:

Steve Patterson's book Square One: The Foundations of Knowledge begins with the bold claim: "Truth is discoverable. I'm certain of it." The rest of the book is an attempt to prove that there are certain truths for which there is not a sliver of doubt.

I am, to say the least, unconvinced. Universal fallibilism - the claim that all knowledge leaves room for doubt - is, ironically enough, a view I'm particularly confident of (though, obviously, not certain of). Indeed, I did a two-part podcast on this topic (Against Certainty: Knowledge and Experience and Against Certainty: Logic). In this interview, I challenge Steve's claims to certainty with my skeptical doubts. The conversation takes us through the Münhhausen Trilemma, the nature of justification, subjective experience, and, of course, the ever-popular liar paradox.

Next week: Catarina Dutilh Novaes: Logic as Social Practice

Visit http://williamnava.com for more info!

Special thanks to Jackie Blum for the podcast art, and The Tin Box for the theme music.Click here for the full list of episodes!

Sources:Square One: The Foundations of Knowledge by Steve Patterson"How to Resolve the Liar's Paradox" by Steve Patterson (video)

Topics discussed:0:41 - The goal of certainty2:59 - Agrippan trilemma6:37 - Certainty v. necessity (epistemology v. metaphysics)19:08 - Justification (grounds for belief)25:42 - Certainty about experience v. certainty about logical truths29:03 - Meditating on experience31:40 - Presuppositions of skepticism?41:50 - Negation43:32 - "Logic and existence are inseparable"47:28 - Philosophy of language49:50 - Liar paradox, negation, and the possibility of contradiction
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