Single Idea 1673

[catalogued under 11. Knowledge Aims / B. Certain Knowledge / 1. Certainty]

Full Idea

It is difficult to know whether you know something or not. For it is difficult to know whether or not our knowledge of something proceeds from its principles - and this is what it is to know something.

Gist of Idea

Knowledge proceeds from principles, so it is hard to know if we know

Source

Aristotle (Posterior Analytics [c.327 BCE], 76a25)

Book Reference

Aristotle: 'Posterior Analytics (2nd ed)', ed/tr. Barnes,Jonathan [OUP 1993], p.14