Knowledge and Uncertainty

[Fourth Floor]

The recent post about Plato and the effect of philosophical doubt on our perception of knowledge, as it pertains to the new Transformers movie, has reminded me of a poem by one of my favourite writers; Philip Larkin. I will now cheekily reproduce the poem here:

Ignorance

Strange to know nothing, never to be sure
Of what is true or right or real,
But forced to qualify or so I feel,
Or Well, it does seem so:
Someone must know.

Strange to be ignorant of the way things work:
Their skill at finding what they need,
Their sense of shape, and punctual spread of seed,
And willingness to change;
Yes, it is strange,

Even to wear such knowledge - for our flesh
Surrounds us with its own decisions -
And yet spend all our life on imprecisions,
That when we start to die
Have no idea why.