Certainty
Updated 2026-09-10
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
Certainty is an epistemic status that a proposition or belief may occupy, such that the subject cannot be wrong about it and cannot reasonably doubt it. The history of philosophy often takes mathematical knowledge as the model of certainty and treats the pursuit of certainty as a proper goal of philosophy. Distinct notions include indubitability, infallibility, and indefeasibility, which differ considerably in strength.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Set the evidential bar: distinguish justified belief from a position in which error is impossible. - Detect indefeasibility: ask whether any new evidence could overturn the belief in question. - Diagnose skepticism: check how strong a status the skeptic demands in order to locate the dispute.
Anchor fast decisions
Certainty functions as a higher epistemic status because it closes off room for error and doubt: indubitability requires that the subject have no possible ground for doubt, infallibility that the belief cannot be false, and indefeasibility that no new evidence can overturn it. Different conceptions carry different strengths, and so change the relation between certainty, knowledge, and skepticism.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
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Source support: Explicit
- plato.stanford.eduhttps://plato.stanford.edu/entries/certainty/verified
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