Fearing Uncertainty

I agree with Michelle's opinion that Lynch went a bit too far in his second chapter with his claim that one can never be certain about anything. I understand the point he is trying to make and I agree that many of my beliefs could be contradicted, but I believe there are at least some things of which I can be certain. For example, if I see someone with my own eyes right in front of me, I can be certain that person is right in front of me. Although, I suppose Goldman would argue I could in fact be seeing that person's identical twin and for that reason could not be certain.

I guess the reason I'm having such a hard time accepting the fact that nothing is certain is because, to paraphrase Lynch, it is human nature to fear uncertainty. As college students, we've spent a majority of our lifetime in school acquiring knowledge and now we are told that we cannot prove anything is actually true and, as we discussed in lab, that even defining the concept of "knowledge" is now a difficult task.

I have to admit that I'm in favor of the "simple relativism" Lynch speaks of in his third chapter. I like the idea that my beliefs are true simply because I believe them. That is not to say my beliefs are unwavering and cannot change, but at least it provides me with a little certainty. After reading Lynch's argument against simple relativism, I understand that there are definite flaws in attempting to define truth as relative, but in my opinion there are also flaws in Lynch's argument that truth is entirely objective. The concept of truth is much more gray than simply black and white.