Q&A: The Determining Point in Time for the Rule of Fixed vs. Separated
The Determining Point in Time for the Rule of Fixed vs. Separated
Question
When a certain object is fixed in its place, it is treated as an even 50–50 case, and when it separates from the group to which it belongs, it is treated as separated and its rule follows the majority. But I’m having trouble formulating an answer: when I ask myself whether the object was fixed or separated, to exactly what point in time am I referring? At what point in time did it need to be fixed in its place or separated? Obviously, it is not the moment when the doubt actually arose in the person’s mind, because the rule of fixed also applies when a person bought something in a store and knew which store it was, and only afterward forgot. I tried various formulations such as “the moment at which a doubt could theoretically have arisen,” but for all of them I found counterexamples. So what is the determining point in time for fixed/separated?
Answer
It is the moment when the doubt arose in reality, not in the person’s mind. When he took a piece from the store, what he is now uncertain about is what the situation was then, at the moment of taking it.
Discussion on Answer
In a fixed case, the doubt is about the store—Which store was it taken from? In a separated case, the doubt is about the piece. Therefore, in a fixed case the determining moment is the stage when it was in the store, and in a separated case it is the moment when I found it.
According to that, what happens in a case of separated? Suppose instead of the person himself taking the piece out of the store, a raven took the piece and carried it out. Why say that the doubt in reality arose at the moment the piece was found in the street, rather than at the moment it was found in the store? What criterion determines for me when the “birth of the doubt in reality” is?