Epistemology

On Certainty

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Ludwig Wittgenstein

1969

Written in the last eighteen months of Wittgenstein's life, On Certainty is his response to G. E. Moore's proof of the external world. Against both the sceptic and the common-sense philosopher, it argues that certainty is not a species of knowledge but the unquestioned framework within which knowledge and doubt alike are possible. Some beliefs function as hinges: they must stand fast if any inquiry is to turn at all.