"Yes, I'm certain of that" is often taken to be an assurance that the speaker really knows that the attested fact or opinion is correct. But it's not clear that a feeling of really knowing something is a good predictor of really knowing something, as discussed in "On Being Certain: An Overview," at LDS Science Review. The post is a review of Robert Burton's book On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not." The post implicitly suggests we should be more modest in phrasing our claims and arguments. The application to religious discussion seems obvious, but the critique applies to every topic where people often feel they really know.
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About Mormon Inquiry
This blog is no longer updated and is closed for comments. We welcome your comments about Mormonism in our Latter-day Saints forums.
David Banack is an attorney living in Jackson Hole. He joined the LDS Church at age 15 and later served a two-year LDS mission to France and Switzerland. He has lived up and down the West Coast, as well as in Fiji, Samoa, Sweden, Utah, and now Wyoming. Dave has been running the Mormon Inquiry site discussing LDS and Christian issues since 2003. He is a website editor for Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought and also participates at the LDS weblog Times and Seasons. The views expressed on this blog are his own.Search This Blog
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