The idea of certainty and self-belief is a that is expressed in many medias. This belief of certainty is usually expressed through phrases such as “You can do it!” What one should wonder is if this self-certainty is really for the best. Afterall, too much of this certainty can lead to rash actions with negative consequences. The solution to this is doubt; not doubting everything that you do, but having a sense of doubt that will level with your certainty, which will give rise to correct and proper actions. Ultimately, certainty and doubt are both concepts in which while they are opposites by definition, one can not prevail without the other. This is the case because too much doubt will prevent moving forward and too much certainty can lead …show more content…
However, because of their doubt, they would never have done anything to warrant themselves to be known, and one would not be able to find specific examples of these people. Contradictory to this, there are many examples, of people who, when faced with doubtful opportunities, chose to be certain in themselves and continue to move forward. These people have exactly the right about of certainty and doubt, and therefore can get what they want without going too far. One of these people is Walt Disney, who was denied a job about three hundred times for not being “imaginative” enough. Walt Disney, even after being turned down so many times, did not give up on his dreams because he was confident in himself, and eventually went on to build his very own Walt Disney World. Another person who was faced with this kind of dead end was J.K. Rowling, whose famous “Harry Potter” stories were declined twelve times before becoming published, and eventually becoming famous among people of all ages. Rowling had enough doubt to know that her stories weren’t perfect, thus rewriting them every time she was turned down until they reached the publisher's standards. Her certainty led her to resubmit her stories every time she was turned down, because she was sure her writings were good enough. Walt Disney and J.K. Rowling are perfect examples of a perfect amount of both certainty and doubt, because they believed in themselves enough to keep pursuing their future, but never took it too far and did something to damage their
Mark Twain once said, “All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence, and then success is sure.” This quote illustrates the idea that the hero’s achievements and journeys are largely based on their personal confidence level. The main character Odysseus from the epic poem The Odyssey, David Dunn from the movie Unbreakable, and Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games are all heroes that showed different confidence levels, which greatly influenced their achievements and journeys. Through the analysis of Odysseus, Katniss, and David, it becomes evident that a hero's path and ultimately the final outcome can be greatly affected by the strength of their confidence; having just the right amount of confidence is paramount when traveling
It was best stated by the Alchemist that, “People are afraid to pursue their most important dreams, because they feel that they don’t deserve them, or that they’ll be unable to achieve them.”(134) Many are afraid of failure, even though failure is important for success. To be successful one must learn, and the best way to learn is by making mistakes. A great example of a person who embodies this is Thomas Edison. He is known for the creation of the light bulb, but more important than that, he was an inventor, who put many things through trial and error. As a kid in the mid 1800’s, like more kids he had to work in the factory. That didn’t stop his drive to learn, and while working he spent much of his time reading about the telegraph and other machines. During and industrial age of rapid growth, he built his way up and established himself as an inventor. First he created a recorder to speed up the voting process, that was a commercial fail but he continued regardless of his failure. By pursuing his dream as an inventor, he eventually created the lightbulb, even though it is debated that the number of tries was between 1,000 and 10,000 tries. However, it’s safe to say that thats a whole lot of failure. His response? “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” His identity is
Does certainty actually provide security, or does it set one for failure? Does doubt cause negativity or does it prepare one for the future? The idea whether certainty or doubt causes the fulfillment of dreams, goals and the future as questioned many. Certainty creates security and assurances, but is anything certain? Nothing in the world is ever certain; one’s world can be flipped upside down in the matters of days, hours, minutes and even a split of a second. Unlike certainty, doubt allows one to know there is a chance that the odds are against one. William Lyon Phelps supports certainty as a factor for success, while Bertrand Russell favors doubt because it creates comfort and prepares one for reality. Using personal knowledge and historical evidence, Bertrand Russell’s idea that doubt creates possibilities and hard work is valid, while William Lyon Phelps claims the opposite, that certainty creates success.
Being confident, but not certain, allows for changes in opinion/belief in the face of new information and experiences (avoiding Unger’s attitude of certainty).
Epistemology is purposed with discovering and studying what knowledge is and how we can classify what we know, how we know it, and provide some type of framework for how we arrived at this conclusion. In the journey to identify what knowledge is the certainty principle was one of the first concepts that I learned that explained how we, as humans, consider ourselves to know something. The certainty concept suggests that knowledge requires evidence that is sufficient to rule out the possibility of error. This concept is exemplified in cases like The Gettier problem in the instance that we suppose (S) someone to know (P) a particular proposition. As Gettier established the Justified True Belief as a conceptual formula for knowledge, certainty can be understood with the proper perspective and background. The certainty principle explains that knowledge requires evidence to be “sufficient” to rule out the possibility of error. This means that what we determine to be acknowledged as “knowledge” must present justification in order to be accepted believed as knowledge. This is important because Skepticism doubts the validation of knowledge and how we come to any such conclusion of justifying what we “know” indubitably as knowledge. This is the overarching problem with skepticism. Instead of having a solid stance on how to define knowledge, skeptics simply doubt that a reason or proposition offered is correct and suppose it to be false or flawed in some manner. See the examples below as identifiers of the skeptic way of life.
portrays is one of uncertainty and one which has a lack of self control. Faith
Knowledge can be a great attainment but an excess of it can lead to doubt. Doubt forms because we tend to rely on our feelings to decide what is real and what is not, but why is that wrong? It’s simple, our feelings are not absolute. Although, everything we know we base off of our emotions and interactions with an object so why question it? We question our feelings because we cannot be sure if they are true or not. We try to justify them with claims so the feelings can be proven. Since our feelings fail to eliminate the doubt set in our minds because they are limited and undependable, we turn to reason through ideas to comprehend our thoughts. We become so unsure due to the factors that come into play when making a decision. Doubt can cause strong minds to flutter therefore making us question the credibility of our feelings. Allowing doubt to seep through, leads to a never ending battle of thoughts. Can I really trust my feelings? As you begin to reflect on your attitude towards the subject, you start to make assumptions about other’s attitudes on the subject. This reflection deepens the doubt in your once firm comprehension. Although we have reason to not doubt ourselves since we think we are right and others might also agree, it still does not answer the question of how do we know that that certain object is reality and who...
Perhaps a more famous victim of the quest for certainty is Descartes. He noticed that he was often wrong about things he thought he knew, even about some things he believed with a great deal of confidence. Not only have some of hi...
Initially, the author lays out the definition of the Uncertainty Theory, and details two different types of uncertainty and their phases of development. McCormick (2002) uses Mishel’s direct definition of the Uncertainty Theory and states the theory is, “a cognitive state created when the person cannot adequately structure or categorize an event because of the lack of sufficient cues. Uncertainty occurs in a situation in which the decision maker is unable to assign definitive value to object or events and/or events and/or is unable to predict outcomes accurately.” (p.127).
Today, people are led by what they think rather than what they know. It is human nature to fear the unknown. Certainty allows a person to have satisfaction and confidence in what they're doing, but if we were certain about everything what would there be to doubt? Doubt is the key to knowledge. Without uncertainty everything would be certain until proven wrong, but who says it isn't right? Doubt is what enables us to question and challenge the perfection of certainty. A person should have the ability to see the faults and weaknesses in anything that appears to be perfect, they shouldn't be afraid of potentially challenging something already “flawless”. The two are so profoundly different, yet we can't grow without either of them and can’t
A chapter where doubt is not present, a chapter where I love myself, a chapter where I begin to live my life, and a chapter where I do not have fear for the future. Doubt has controlled my life for too long, and it is time for doubt to get out of controlling my life and me. Doubt: to be uncertain about; hesitant to believe. BUT from now on I am going to look at doubt as uncertainty, but uncertainty that I can make certain. Let’s give doubt a look at certainty, and show them doubt cannot get in the way of living the life we are meant to live and
Self-doubt is just another troubling situation and a major obstacle that everyone has to work their way through. The strength that one can gain from overcoming doubt is remarkable and enables growth and success. A positive person with support from within and outside of their mind, is able to jump over the hurdle of self-doubt. I am grateful for having the opportunity to develop more as a person and to be capable of comforting others that deal with the same complications as myself. Being able to live through, experience, and conquer doubt has sculpted me into the fierce confident person that I am
Confidence may be defined as believing or having faith in something or someone. Meanwhile doubt may be defined as a feeling of uncertainty. Doubt can also be described as the preliminary point of all knowledge. We initiated our search for knowledge because of our need for “certainty” (Konnikova). In his statement, von Goethe makes certain assumptions. The first part of the quote suggests that confidence is the outcome of little knowledge. The second part implies that cumulative knowledge leads to a growth in doubt. Modern philosophy and science has been formed upon the viewpoint of Rene Descartes (Freeman 1). Descartes reasoned in his thinking that everything can be questioned to its quiddity and state, but we cannot doubt the human being thinking about the nature of the quiddity and state. Thus, we arrive at a certainty. Through this, he was able to build his foundation on the philosophy of “I think therefore I am.” By establishing one thing that he was certain of, he was able to
With belief comes a commitment to investing the time, effort and resources to make sure you continue to deliver your short-term goals, and repeated success in delivering your goals increases your motivation which, in turn, increases your belief in your abilities to deliver your long-term goal.
I think that in order for someone to be successful in life they have to have confidence in everything they do. Being self-confident for me is all about how I think of myself and what things I can do to be better. Confidence is something that can always be worked and built on. I believe that having confidence or not can affect how you preform and act towards different obstacles in life. Not having self-confidence affected me in the game I played and could have had a better performance if I would have believed in myself more. I think for things in the future I will try to have a better mind set and more of a positive