PHLA10H3 : Review #8
Document Summary
Internal certifiability means that if s knows some proposition p, then there exists an argument that shows that p must be true, whose premises are either a priori true or knowable by introspection. Introspection is gained by going within one"s mind and examining its contents. The subjective premise describes what is going on in the subject"s mind. The objective conclusion makes a claim about the world outside the subject"s mind. The linking premise shows how the subjective premise necessitates the objective conclusion. Reliability is an objective feature of some information carriers and the environment because reliability has nothing to do with what one imagines. If the situations imagined were actually obtained, then it would be unreliable under those circumstances. This is best explained with the analogy of the thermometer. If the thermometer says that the temperature is n degrees, then the temperature must be n degrees. It is an entirely separate question whether anybody realizes that this thermometer/environment relationship obtains.
