To: 
From: "Vern Humphrey" 
Reply-To: r_catholic-l{at}yahoogroups.com

To: Michael D Brazier [mailto:mdbrazier{at}juno.com]
> >
> >  Meaning, you can't see the other side of the shorn
> >  sheep.  But, it's reasonable to assume BOTH sides
> >  had the wool removed.
>
> Sure, it's reasonable.  But it's not _certain_.  That's the point of the
> story.
> Unless you've actually seen both sides of the sheep, it isn't strictly
> right
> to declare that both sides have been shorn; you can only swear to what
> you've seen, not to an inference from it, however reasonable.
>
No, the point of the story is, if you adopt unrealistic decision criteria,
and apply it to only one course of action, you will fail.

Absolute certainty is not possible in the real world.  And you cannot see
all sides of the sheep at the same time.  You must therefore make the
reasonable assumption that if one side is shorn, both sides are.

To take the position that we cannot function without absolute certainty,
without actually SEEING the things we infer, is to set aside all human
knowledge and science (who ever saw a quark?  What living man has seen
Jesus Christ rise from the tomb?) and leave us powerless in a hostile
universe.

And in law, you CAN swear to inferences.  The law recognizes certain
logical inferences in the province of the ordinary man ("Did the
defendant appear angry to you?") and some in the province of expert
witnesses ("In your opinion, what was the cause of death?")


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