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Single Idea 5416

[filed under theme 12. Knowledge Sources / A. A Priori Knowledge / 2. Self-Evidence ]

Full Idea

If propositions can have some degree of self-evidence without being true, we must say, where there is a conflict, that the more self-evident proposition is to be retained and the less self-evident rejected.

Gist of Idea

If self-evidence has degrees, we should accept the more self-evident as correct

Source

Bertrand Russell (Problems of Philosophy [1912], Ch.11)

Book Ref

Russell,Bertrand: 'The Problems of Philosophy' [OUP 1995], p.68

A Reaction

This is a key part of Russell's 'moderate rationalism'. Presumably the rejected propositions were therefore not self-evident, and can be used as training for intuitions, by seeing why we got it wrong. Fools find absurd falsehoods self-evidently true.

The 23 ideas with the same theme [knowledge that is immediately grasped or obvious]:

483 Start a thesis with something undisputable [Diogenes of Apollonia]
23356 Self-evidence is most obvious when people who deny a proposition still have to use it [Epictetus]
21249 Some things are self-evident to us; others are only self-evident in themselves [Aquinas]
22128 Augustine's 'illumination' theory of knowledge leads to nothing but scepticism [Duns Scotus, by Dumont]
24025 Clear and distinct truths must be known all at once (unlike deductions) [Descartes]
21253 Descartes needs to demonstrate how other people can attain his clear and distinct conceptions [Leibniz]
23635 Truths are self-evident to sensible persons who understand them clearly without prejudice [Reid]
9348 Experienceless bodies have space; propertyless bodies have substance; this must be seen a priori [Kant]
8657 Mathematicians just accept self-evidence, whether it is logical or intuitive [Frege]
16887 Frege's concept of 'self-evident' makes no reference to minds [Frege, by Burge]
22205 Feelings of self-evidence (and necessity) are just the inventions of theory [Husserl]
21216 Husserl says we have intellectual intuitions (of categories), as well as of the senses [Husserl, by Velarde-Mayol]
7554 Self-evidence is often a mere will-o'-the-wisp [Russell]
5412 Some propositions are self-evident, but their implications may also be self-evident [Russell]
5413 Particular instances are more clearly self-evident than any general principles [Russell]
5415 As shown by memory, self-evidence comes in degrees [Russell]
5416 If self-evidence has degrees, we should accept the more self-evident as correct [Russell]
16907 If the truth doesn't follow from self-evidence, then self-evidence cannot justify a truth [Wittgenstein]
9379 A sentence is obvious if it is true, and any speaker of the language will instantly agree to it [Quine]
8887 It is hard to give the concept of 'self-evident' a clear and defensible characterization [Bonjour]
13480 Fregean self-evidence is an intrinsic property of basic truths, rules and definitions [Hart,WD]
6414 Two propositions might seem self-evident, but contradict one another [Grayling]
9597 There are 'armchair' truths which are not a priori, because experience was involved [Williamson]