Q&A: Why All Facts Are Not Correct
Why All Facts Are Not Correct
Question
Hello Rabbi,
I often hear, both in your lectures and in other lectures and in other books, that there are no certain facts in the world—that really anything can be doubted. But no one has ever explained this to me. After all, if I feel the wall with my hands, then it definitely exists there, or if I see the sun rising, then obviously it is here.
And also, if I can cast doubt on everything, doesn’t that make the world meaningless? That is, I’m not obligated to anything, because everything could be an illusion.
Answer
What you feel is not enough to establish certainty. It is possible to cause you to have such sensations artificially (by stimulating the brain). There are also optical illusions, such as a mirage. When I speak about certainty, I mean something that is beyond any doubt, even a hypothetical one. You are talking about practical certainty.
But lack of certainty does not mean doubt. Ninety-five percent is not the same as thirty percent. The mistake of the postmodernists is that they identify truth with certainty. I devoted entire books to this (Two Carts, Truth and the Unstable).
Discussion on Answer
Truth is something correct, but not necessarily certain.
If truth is not something correct (certain), then what is it?