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Difference between doubt and certainty
Difference between doubt and certainty
Difference between doubt and certainty
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The relationship between certainty and doubt has been a heavily debated topic throughout history and especially in the mid-1800s. For most people, having some doubt on one’s opinions is much more beneficial than having absolute certainty because doubt allows one to review his potential choice and leaves room for him to make improvements on his choice. Someone who lives with absolute certainty cannot weigh the pros and cons because he has the confidence that what he believes is the right decision for everyone; however, there are situations in one’s life where absolute certainty is necessary, such as in team sports. With the exception of competitions, however, it is more important for one to have doubt in his or her life because doubt allows …show more content…
William Lyon Phelps, an American educator, journalist, and professor, believed, “If you develop the absolute sense of certainty that powerful beliefs provide, then you can get yourself to accomplish virtually anything, including those things that other people are certain are impossible.” Phelps believed that certainty is the key to overcoming the impossible. He believed that absolute certainty and confidence in oneself will allow one to accomplish anything he or she put her mind to. It is common for underdogs in different competitions to side with Phelps because they are told that it is impossible for them to win. These competitors use the doubters claims as fuel to motivate themselves and become absolutely certain that they can and will overcome the impossible. On the other hand, Bertrand Russell stated, “I think we ought always to entertain our opinions with some measure of doubt.” Russell, a British author, mathematician, and philosopher. believed that doubt will allow to people to adjust their opinions and envision what their decision may or may not lead to. He believed that nothing is ever truly certain; therefore, there would always be a period of doubt in the decision-making process. This view was extremely common in the minds of people in scientific or academic fields because they know that in the process of perfecting an idea includes multiple trials, errors, and periods of
Does certainty actually provide security, or does it set one for failure? Does doubt cause negativity or does it prepare one for the future? The idea whether certainty or doubt causes the fulfillment of dreams, goals and the future as questioned many. Certainty creates security and assurances, but is anything certain? Nothing in the world is ever certain; one’s world can be flipped upside down in the matters of days, hours, minutes and even a split of a second. Unlike certainty, doubt allows one to know there is a chance that the odds are against one. William Lyon Phelps supports certainty as a factor for success, while Bertrand Russell favors doubt because it creates comfort and prepares one for reality. Using personal knowledge and historical evidence, Bertrand Russell’s idea that doubt creates possibilities and hard work is valid, while William Lyon Phelps claims the opposite, that certainty creates success.
Being confident, but not certain, allows for changes in opinion/belief in the face of new information and experiences (avoiding Unger’s attitude of certainty).
When one states something they usually feel as if it is completely certain. Author Ludwig Wittgenstein wrote “On Certainty” which is a series of notes; the author wrote these notes towards the end of his life. The series is about matters related to knowledge, doubt, and skepticism. Even though Wittgenstein notes were not organized, certain themes and preoccupations were present. He is usually addressed as one of the most misunderstood philosophers in history. Due to his method of philosophy, he was able to see life very different. Attacking methods other philosophers’ used such as the proposition and blatantly exposed them as senseless or even nonsense. According to him a proposition has no meaning unless placed within a particular context. Through these notes one could discuss the context of human understanding and problems concerning all claims to certainty.
Wilson, R. C. "Sources Of Sport-Confidence Of Senior Adult, College, And High School Athletes." (2000): SPORTDiscus. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.
With three choices, the results showed a greater number of people had chosen A as their final result. This is one of the studies that had convinced me of Mr. Dunning’s way of expressing his thought out. Before advancing with the article, I had taken the test to observe where I would assume the ball will advance to. Compared to the others, I as well had believed the ball will take route A. After reading and understanding it deeper, I had a strong enough impression on how Mr. Dunning had used the results to watch how much confidence the subject has. As Mr. Dunning had explained, depending on your situation and the knowledge being received can cause a difference on how well you can answer a question. My confidence was high enough to make me believe that I had chosen the correct answer, however suddenly realizing I wasn’t even close enough. As he explains, people who had chosen A had more confidence than the others. Confidence sometimes can become a burden in life, but can also become something suitable. Reaching back to the study with “Jimmy Kimmel Live”, many of the citizen had no idea of the bands that were being name but boasting with their confidence made them look like a fool in front of millions of
Conflict is everywhere; from the smallest quarrels to the grandest of wars, society has had to deal with hardships. Persistence and determination saves the day. Without trust, or confidence in trust, society would be in grave danger during times of panic. Confidence can be shown in small acts, just as Sophie does in Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler’s Shadow, or country-impacting, like Prime Minister Winston Churchill shows in his speech, Blood, Toil, Tears and Sweat. People can best respond to conflict by staying confident in their beliefs and ideas.
Knowledge can be a great attainment but an excess of it can lead to doubt. Doubt forms because we tend to rely on our feelings to decide what is real and what is not, but why is that wrong? It’s simple, our feelings are not absolute. Although, everything we know we base off of our emotions and interactions with an object so why question it? We question our feelings because we cannot be sure if they are true or not. We try to justify them with claims so the feelings can be proven. Since our feelings fail to eliminate the doubt set in our minds because they are limited and undependable, we turn to reason through ideas to comprehend our thoughts. We become so unsure due to the factors that come into play when making a decision. Doubt can cause strong minds to flutter therefore making us question the credibility of our feelings. Allowing doubt to seep through, leads to a never ending battle of thoughts. Can I really trust my feelings? As you begin to reflect on your attitude towards the subject, you start to make assumptions about other’s attitudes on the subject. This reflection deepens the doubt in your once firm comprehension. Although we have reason to not doubt ourselves since we think we are right and others might also agree, it still does not answer the question of how do we know that that certain object is reality and who...
The idea of certainty and self-belief is a that is expressed in many medias. This belief of certainty is usually expressed through phrases such as “You can do it!” What one should wonder is if this self-certainty is really for the best. Afterall, too much of this certainty can lead to rash actions with negative consequences. The solution to this is doubt; not doubting everything that you do, but having a sense of doubt that will level with your certainty, which will give rise to correct and proper actions. Ultimately, certainty and doubt are both concepts in which while they are opposites by definition, one can not prevail without the other. This is the case because too much doubt will prevent moving forward and too much certainty can lead
In my life I have realized that the more educated I have become the more confidence I gain. My brother, however refuses to do his homework and it has created negative feelings about himself, which decreases his confidence. This contrast shows how important knowledge is in developing confidence. Some may argue that ownership cannot increase confidence, but that this is done by simply thinking better about yourself. Although, this is true the key to becoming more confident is by finding success. At the beginning of the year in my calculus class I was struggling and did not feel confident, however as I began to understand the concepts better my overall confidence increased. This demonstrates the idea that ownership of a skill increases the confidence of an individual. Ownership of a skill increasing confidence is also seen in the Olympics. In the olympics there are many athletes that are the best in the world and with their skill comes confidence. These athletes have confidence because they have ownership of their skill and they know they are the best. This shows that ownership is a key part to confidence and a person's
Today, people are led by what they think rather than what they know. It is human nature to fear the unknown. Certainty allows a person to have satisfaction and confidence in what they're doing, but if we were certain about everything what would there be to doubt? Doubt is the key to knowledge. Without uncertainty everything would be certain until proven wrong, but who says it isn't right? Doubt is what enables us to question and challenge the perfection of certainty. A person should have the ability to see the faults and weaknesses in anything that appears to be perfect, they shouldn't be afraid of potentially challenging something already “flawless”. The two are so profoundly different, yet we can't grow without either of them and can’t
Though they had two contradicting ideas, both Phelps and Russell showed us just how doubt and certainty can change people’s lives. Though opposite in meaning, both doubt and certainty hold a similar role in our lives and both determine our path in life.
Vickers and A. Mark Williams; Liebert & Morris, 1967: Martens et al., 1990, Taylor (p. 144) as a mental component when athletes become anxious they begin to think negatively about their current and future performances) and self-confidence. Somatic anxiety was a key component when assessing the true effects that it has on an athlete’s performance (Brustad & Wiggins, 1996). Brustad and Wiggins (1996) tested their theory on a group of 91 athletes. The athletes were between the ages of 14 to 36 years old that participated in a variety of sports: soccer, swimming, and track and field. Those who scored higher on self-confidence and scored lower in CA and SA found perceived their overall anxiety as facilitative (Wiggins & Brustad, 1996). Kirby and Liu (1999) found that athletes who participate in individual sports, such as track and field, have a lower self-confidence and higher levels of SA than those athletes who partake in team sports such as basketball and volleyball. The same holds true for figure skaters. The skaters experienced a substantial amount of CA and SA before their individual competitions in contrast to a team competition. The responsibility that was placed on the athletes in a team sport differed than the responsibility that an individual sport athlete may have (Martin & Halls,
Although, not a component of anxiety, Martens et al., (1990) concluded the inclusion of self-confidence (separate cognitive component) would aid performance. Self-confidence is classes as one’s internal belief in meeting the demands of the task to be performed (Woodman & Hardy, 2003). The importance of self-confidence on performance is well documented, for example Gould, Weiss and Weinberg (1981) noted that self –confidence helps in identifying athletes who are successful from unsuccessful. Burton (1988) and Martens et al., (1990) found that cognitive anxiety affects performance negatively and somatic anxiety impacts performance in a curvilinear fashion while self-confidence has a positive influence on performance (Chamberlin & Hale, 2007). It can be concluded that it is essential for athletes to have the ability to cope with anxiety (Hardy et al., 1996) so that they can meet the demands of the task in order to perform well. Therefore, leading practitioners to employ strategies in attempt to help control anxiety and raise self-confidence in attempt to increase
I believe what he meant was if we just accept things as they appear to us without ever questioning anything, then we will live meaningless and miserable lives. In the article, Russell writes, “The life of the instinctive man is shut up within the circle of his private interests: family and friends may be included, but the outer world is not regarded except as it may help or hinder what comes within the circle of instinctive wishes,” I think this is his representation of the unexamined life. He also wrote, “In such a life there is no peace, but a constant strife between the insistence of desire and the powerlessness of will. In one way or another, if our life is to be great and free, we must escape this prison and this strife” I think that what he meant by this is that if we want our lives to be meaningful and pleasant, then we must study philosophy. The only way that our lives can be “great and free” is to question everything and accept nothing
Self-confidence is made up of two main components, self-efficacy and self-esteem. Self-efficacy is defined as the levels of confidence individuals have in their ability to execute courses of action or attain specific performance outcomes (Bandura 1997). Self-esteem is a term used to reflect a person’s own evaluation or appraisal of their own worth (Baumeister, 1993) It is believed that these aspects are important in deepening our understanding of sporting performance it is also believed that these two main aspects of self-confidence are vital in achieving a high level of sporting performance. Psychologists such as Bandura and Vealey have proposed