Ep 38 Absurdity of Certainity

This was supposed to be a thinking out loud episode. Instead it is more of a summary of what I learned when I couldn't sleep. Here is a fact check by ChatGPT-5. Show Notes 🏃‍♂️ Episode Introduction In this late-night recording (past 3 a.m. thanks to a caffeine-fueled 5K race), Jimbo explores one of philosophy’s most profound questions: Can we ever be certain of anything? This episode blends personal reflections on running in 94° heat with a deep dive into epistemology — the study of knowledge — featuring thinkers like Descartes, Hume, Kant, and Voltaire. Evening 5K race in high heat and wind. Pacing strong for two miles, with a slowdown in the third mile due to fatigue and conditions. Reflections on how environmental factors (heat, wind, time of day) can shape performance. Special shout-out: Jamie’s first fun run mile — and she crushed it! We don’t perceive the world directly; we perceive mental representations shaped by senses. Related to but not the same as Plato’s Allegory of the Cave. Limits of perception proven by things outside our sensory range (infrared, microscopic life, etc.). 🔗 Learn more: Plato’s Allegory of the Cave – Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy The Veil of Perception – Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy Deduction: From premises to guaranteed conclusions (e.g., All humans are mortal. Socrates is human. Therefore, Socrates is mortal.). Induction: From past observations to probable conclusions (e.g., The sun has always risen → it will rise tomorrow.). Deduction = certainty (if premises are true). Induction = probability only. 🔗 Learn more: Deductive and Inductive Reasoning Hume on Induction – Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy Hume pointed out we have no logical guarantee that the future will resemble the past. Example: Just because the sun has always risen doesn’t mean it must tomorrow. Conclusion: All empirical knowledge is probabilistic, not certain. 🔗 Learn more: David Hume’s Problem of Induction – SEP Descartes’ Meditations on First Philosophy (1641) introduced methodic doubt: doubt everything until reaching a foundation of certainty. His famous line: Cogito, ergo sum (“I think, therefore I am”). Only certainty: his own existence as a thinking being. 🔗 Read: Descartes’ Meditations (Full Text) Kant accepted Hume’s challenge but argued we can know how things must appear to us through human cognition. Certainty exists only within the structures of our perception and reason (phenomena), not about reality itself (noumena). 🔗 Learn more: Kant’s Epistemology – SEP Famous quote: “Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is an absurd one.” Reaction to Baron d’Holbach’s System of Nature (1770), which argued for atheistic materialism. Voltaire criticized both dogmatic atheism and dogmatic theism, favoring deism and intellectual humility. His message: embrace doubt and modesty in belief, avoid absolute certainty. 🔗 Learn more: Voltaire’s Philosophy – SEP Baron d’Holbach – System of Nature (Full Text) Most of what we “know” in science, history, and daily life is inductive, not deductive — therefore probabilistic. Certainty is rare, and often only available in definitions, math, and logic. Hume showed the limits of induction, Kant reframed knowledge within cognition, and Voltaire warned us that claiming certainty itself is folly. Podcast mentioned: Philosophize This! – esp. episodes 39–41. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (SEP – free, scholarly reference). Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy (accessible summaries).