The feeling of knowing, then, is less a synonym for certainty than a precondition for it. And we have encountered other preconditions as well. There are our sensory perceptions, so immediate and convincing that they seem beyond dispute. There is the logical necessity, captured by the ’Cuz It’s True Constraint, of thinking that our beliefs are grounded in the facts. There are the biases we bring to bear when we assess the evidence for and against those beliefs. And there is the fact that our convictions and our communities are mutually reinforcing, so that we can’t question our beliefs without
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