green numbers give full details | back to texts | unexpand this idea
| 21516 | We want certainty in order achieve secure results for action |
| Full Idea: The ultimate ground of the quest for cognitive certainty is the need for security in the results for action. | |||
| From: John Dewey (The Quest for Certainty [1929], p.39), quoted by Erik J. Olsson - Against Coherence 10.5 | |||
| A reaction: Just what a pragmatist should say. This may be true within an evolutionary account of human nature, but seems unlikely when doing a sudoku. The 'ground' of the quest may not be the same as its 'source'. |