idea

Who said something like it before and around Gödel

Jacob Bronowski, in The Ascent of Man (the episode “Knowledge or Certainty”), uses Gödel and Heisenberg to argue that no knowledge is absolute, and that people who claim absolute certainty act as if they had the knowledge of gods. verify the wording

Without Gödel: Russell’s remark that fools and fanatics are certain while wiser people are full of doubt (paraphrased from memory). verify Cromwell’s plea to the Church of Scotland: “think it possible you may be mistaken”. Popper’s fallibilism and The Open Society. Hayek’s argument that no central planner can hold all the knowledge. The overconfidence research (Dunning-Kruger) shows that certainty and accuracy are only loosely connected.

Connects to

• what stays open
• the caution
• Bronowski, Popper

Sources

1. Bronowski, J. (1973). The Ascent of Man, episode 11, “Knowledge or Certainty”. BBC.