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Full Idea
Surprise is a criterion of error.
Gist of Idea
Surprise is a criterion of error
Source
Bertrand Russell (My Philosophical Development [1959], Ch.15)
Book Ref
Russell,Bertrand: 'My Philosophical Development' [Routledge 1993], p.136
A Reaction
Russell is not too precise about this, but it is a nice point. Surprise is thwarted expectation, which implies prior misjudgement.
| 2284 | I make errors because my will extends beyond my understanding [Descartes] |
| 5007 | Most errors of judgement result from an inaccurate perception of the facts [Descartes] |
| 4841 | People make calculation mistakes by misjudging the figures, not calculating them wrongly [Spinoza] |
| 21542 | Do incorrect judgements have non-existent, or mental, or external objects? [Russell] |
| 6443 | Surprise is a criterion of error [Russell] |
| 22306 | To explain false belief we should take belief as relating to a proposition's parts, not to the whole thing [Russell] |
| 6097 | The theory of error seems to need the existence of the non-existent [Russell] |
| 5425 | In order to explain falsehood, a belief must involve several terms, not two [Russell] |
| 23475 | The form of a proposition must show why nonsense is unjudgeable [Wittgenstein] |