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Old Jul 19, 2010, 05:38 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by chaosrob View Post
Does anyone else ever experience things like this where they are unsure whether they can trust their own reasoning behind a given situation?
Well, sort of. I used to worry a lot about whether or not I could trust my own reasoning. By now, though, I'm satisfied that I can make it come out any way I want so there's nothing to trust -- or to worry about.

For an illustration: some years ago I used to keep my checkbook in the glove compartment of my car while I was working. After work I'd sometimes drive over to the bank and cash a check. On one of these trips, just as I finished parking the car I said to myself, "Oops, I almost forgot my checkbook!" -- one way of reasoning about it.

About a second later I realized that I hadn't forgotten -- I'd thought of it exactly when I needed it and could do something about it, not while I was still driving. Another way of reasoning about the same thing. According to the first way, I was doomed to get all the way inside the bank without my checkbook and have to come back for it unless I obsessed about it all the way to the bank: "Don't forget the checkbook, don't forget the checkbook, don't forget the checkbook!" According to the second way, any obsessing was for nothing and all I had to do was remember it when I actually needed it. Contradictory results -- and my choice of which one to go with.