Q&A: Uncertainty
Uncertainty
Question
If your statement that there is no certain truth is itself uncertain, then what makes it worth more than other statements that are also uncertain?
Answer
Who said it is worth more?
Discussion on Answer
I don't remember saying that. When I talk about there being no certainty, I usually note that this may include that statement itself. Why am I not sure? Because it's possible that this is like a logical tautology, about which I actually am sure.
Rabbi, I seem to recall that you wrote something similar to what the questioner says in the introduction to the notebooks on matters of faith:
"6. As I explain there, and as I have clarified more than once in the past, the goal is not to arrive at certainty. To the best of my understanding, a person has no way to arrive at certainty in any area, including faith in the existence of God, and certainly not the revelation at Mount Sinai or anything else (perhaps except for this principle itself: that nothing is certain, though that too requires further examination). The goal is to reach conclusions that are entirely reasonable and rational, and in my view far more logical than the alternatives. Anyone looking for something beyond that is wasting his time. He shouldn't read, and really should stop searching altogether. If he has found a way to arrive at such certainty, he is probably mistaken (for certain! 🙂 )."
I apologize for forgetting to note in the introduction to the notebooks that there is a prerequisite for reading: a minimal ability in reading comprehension. My apologies.
You wrote quite categorically in The First Existing that there definitely is no certain truth.