Against Certainty

I am not a scientist and I’m definitely not one who tends to feel particular certain about very much. After all, you just never can know how people will behave. (What happened in Sierra Leone convinces me of that.) All this is because of a powerful essay in today’s New York Times by philosopher Simon Critchley, “The Dangers of Certainty: A Lesson from Auschwitz” featuring an old BBC series called “The Ascent of Man” hosted by oneJacob Bronowski. Below is an tiny piece of the show, but I recom...