The Brief
One of my teachers in school told me that the best way to learn was to ask as many questions as possible. And there are some questions that just have to be asked…
The Loony Letter
Dear Prof. Wolff,
Does this letter exist, or do you only believe it to? If you only believe it to exist, when in fact it does not, does that make its existence more real?
Yours,
Bill Bennett
The Reply
Dear Mr Bennett,
Thank you for your letter of 17th July. In response to your questions:
1. ‘I believe that P but it is not the case that P’ is known as Moore’s Fallacy (after the philosopher G.E. Moore, a contemporary of Bertrand Russell). There are very few plausible examples (if any) of propositions of which we can sincerely say, ‘I believe it, but it’s not true.’
2. There are some things which ‘exist’ (in a sense) only because we believe them, such as the ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’. A piece of paper is not the kind of thing that can be a self-fulfilling prophecy. (Although, ‘I can’t help writing letters and sending them off into the blue,’ might be.)
3. How do I know that anything exists? How do I know that I am not dreaming as I write this? These questions assume that ‘believing doesn’t make it so’. In other words, in order to be a sceptic, or to raise sceptical questions it is necessary to assume a form of realism. Of course, this cuts no ice if one is a solipsist. But then, if I were a solipsist, why would I be writing to you?
I hope that this was worth the cost of your postage stamp!
Yours sincerely,
Geoffrey Klempner
Director of Studies
The Review
A very clever response, with a small dose of wit dropped in for good measure. Although I fear it may have raised more questions than there were before… for example, how we wrote to a Professor Wolff, and recieved a reply from a Geoffrey Kempner instead. Are they one and the same? Do either of them exist at all?
