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Quotes from On Certainty — Ludwig Wittgenstein

1889–1951 Austria

← All quotes by Ludwig Wittgenstein

11 quotes

What I hold fast to is not one proposition but a nest of propositions.

On Certainty (1969)

If you do know that here is one hand, we'll grant you all the rest.

On Certainty (1969)

Knowledge is in the end based on acknowledgement.

On Certainty (1969)

What stands fast does so, not because it is intrinsically obvious or convincing; it is rather held fast by what lies around it.

On Certainty (1969)

If you tried to doubt everything you would not get as far as doubting anything. The game of doubting itself presupposes certainty.

On Certainty (1969)

If the true is what is grounded, then the ground is not true, nor yet false.

On Certainty (1969)

At the core of all well-founded belief, lies belief that is unfounded.

On Certainty (1969)

At the end of reasons comes persuasion.

On Certainty (1969)

If someone asked us 'but is that true?' we might say "yes" to him; and if he demanded grounds we might say "I can't give you any grounds, but if you learn more you too will think the same."

On Certainty (1969)

I did not get my picture of the world by satisfying myself of its correctness; nor do I have it because I am satisfied of its correctness. No: it is the inherited background against which I distinguish between true and false.

On Certainty (1969)

I am sitting with a philosopher in the garden; he says again and again "I know that that's a tree", pointing to a tree that is near us. Someone else arrives and hears this, and I tell them: "This fellow isn't insane. We are only doing philosophy."

On Certainty (1969)

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Ludwig Wittgenstein (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.