Knowledge

Not all facts are necessary truths.  Facts can be individual events, historical occurrences, theoretical notions, dispositions, or statistical regularities, but none of these facts mentioned are invariable associations or claimed in a way such that its denial would be self-contradictory.  In order for deductive consequences to soundly follow, in addition to the statement of all true premises, the argument must also involve and necessarily depend on at least one universal law.  Without reference to the laws of nature governing existence, all judgments and propositions we make are at best highly probabilistic, which is inadequate in our pursuit of certain truths.  And for empiricists, our understanding of the laws of nature come from our experiences.  So certain knowledge must come from our experiences.

That’s what I’ve gotten from Nagel so far.  Something is missing. Must read Bertrand Russell.

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