C
Certainty Site Overview
C
Certainty is
confidence in the conclusions you reach by
thinking. To see the methods for being certain,
take The Tour. For
deeper analysis, go to the book
site, CertaintyPlus
Epistemology studies
the methods of acquiring and validating
knowledge. Happiness is the result of applying
the proper methods to your life. When you improve
your mental skill, you multiply your chances of
success in life. For ideas on applying Ayn Rand's
discoveries, pick a category below and browse the
essays.
New Book
Freedom in Mind
Asks a question. If slavery is so bad, why
is slave labor so good? Discusses why the
question is as unpopular as the answer. If
freedom is in your heart, is it also in your
mind?
New Essays
Anorexia
Mentalia
The symptoms, then the cure.
Is Happiness a Secret? Finding
the key.
LANGUAGE
What is
Thinking? Words are vital to
differencing and combining
A
Word is Worth a Thousand Pictures Concepts
keep order in the mind
Is
Language Approximate? Mental precision
begins with essentials
Magic
Phrases Why they work in reverse.
Communication
in Context Getting it across
without crossing it up.
Manner
and Meaning Not the same
message.
Sloppy
Concepts What, if anything, to
do about them.
OBJECTIVITY
The
Philosophy of the Light Switch Wherever
you look, philosophy is there
Life
at a Distance If life hurts,
don’t step back, step up
The
Perils of Passivity Wrong thought
beats no thought
Would
Anyone Like to Grow Up? How to change
wishing into doing
The
Should Meter Objective should
versus subjective should
Certainty and
Argument The one word that always wins
an argument
Are
You Bored by You? Some who live at the
beach don’t go near the water
Right, Wrong,
and Meaningless What says nothing
about reality says nothing
Nothing from
Something Sounds that are not
cognitive are meaningless
The
Stopped Clock It does not tell
truth twice a day.
Living
By Lists Conceptualizing things beats
listing them.
The
Formula That Isn’t The
recipe for thought is: develop skill.
Trouble
on the Border In thinking, essentials
beat edges.
Who
Owns Knowledge? Knowledge is yours after
you check it out.
The
End of Guessing Our decisive
moment in history
Introspection
Ignorance of inner life is big trouble.
The
Crucial Link Getting
from principles to action
SUBJECTIVITY
The
View From the Center Getting in and
out of the hot seat
The
Me Filter Kicking the habit of
premature evaluation
Old
Habits Die Easy To kill bad
habits, neglect them
Subjective
Communication Without context,
everything is a guess
The
Privilege Subjectivity is your
privilege, if you can survive it
The
Essential Threat How to destroy
your ability to think
Gambling
with Reality You cannot
substitute hope for certainty
The
Distortion Game Don’t let
what you fear replace what you hear
Living
Backwards The result of thinking
backwards.
Me-firsterism
Put reality first? But what about me?
Forwards
and backwards Seeds of
subjectivity.
MORALITY
Is
Certainty a Virtue? Certainty
as applied epistemology
Is Certainty
Immoral? Guilt about certainty
is guilt about living
Are Mistakes a
Bug or a Feature? Doubt makes
mistakes harder to correct
The
Meaning of Life How to avoid
the back roads of life
How
to Be a Misfit By talking, you
find out only how people talk
Stepping Into
the Future When certainty is
your norm, action is your desire
The
Fun Backlash It is good to whistle
while you work
The Mood Pill
and the Suicide Pill What bad feelings
do for you
The
Mental Wall Being okay with being
wrong
The
Partnership of Science and Poetry Seeing
two ways at once
Why
All the Hysteria? Bypassing the
bull
Moral
Judgment Bad principles make bad
morals
Catching
Up Sharpening your value scale
Honoring
Yourself Toward doing justice to your
own life
Utopia
First? You and the culture, and
which fix is first
Slogans
versus Reality Juggling slogans
is not thinking.
What's
the Use? Analyzing the universal
complaint.
ESTHETICS
What
is Art? Not whatever an artist does
Certainty
and Art Helping you experience
the reality of certainty
Beauty
What it really is
ISSUES
Helping
an Honest Man By stealing for
him
Unilateral
Disarmament The essence of gun
control
Prescribing
Civil War Whose war on drugs is
it?
It's
Not What You See, It's What I Say Or
is it?
Links
all content copyright 2001 by
James Sedgwick
Biography
Books
email:
james.sedgwick@gte.net
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