Single Idea 16488

[catalogued under 12. Knowledge Sources / D. Empiricism / 5. Empiricism Critique]

Full Idea

If 'it is not raining' means 'the sentence "it is raining" is false', that makes it almost impossible to understand how a sentence containing the word 'not' can be found true by observation.

Gist of Idea

It is hard to explain how a sentence like 'it is not raining' can be found true by observation

Source

Bertrand Russell (Human Knowledge: its scope and limits [1948], 9)

Book Reference

Russell,Bertrand: 'Human Knowledge' [Routledge 2009], p.111


A Reaction

Russell goes on to explore the general difficulty of deciding negative truths by observation. The same problem arises for truthmaker theory. Obviously I can observe that it isn't raining, but it seems parasitic on observing when it is raining.

Related Idea

Idea 16489 Is it possible to state every possible truth about the whole course of nature without using 'not'? [Russell]