Knowledge is at once the simplest and the profoundest of human experiences.
Nothing seems more plain to the ordinary man, and more beyond the possibility of any doubt, than the everyday facts if his knowledge. He is utterly convinced of the truth and certainty of the happenings in and around him. It never enters his mind to question the validity of his convictions concerning the knowledge of his experience. We may imagine him sitting in his lounging chair before a window and communing with his thoughts:
"It is certainly pleasant to sit here in comfort and watch the world go by. People are hurrying home from their business, chatting noisily with one another as they walk along the street. The sun appears flatter, larger, and redder every minute, as it slowly sinks in the west, and little by little the blue of the sky seems to turn into fire and gold. Soon the darkness will be here, and I shall see the distant stars. I did not think the wind was so very strong, but I see that it broke a branch from the tree in the square opposite. It is much colder than it was yesterday; I believe that will cause a frost tonight. The air is very raw outside. I ought not to have gone without a topcoat this morning. I believe I have caught a cold; I felt miserable all afternoon, I had a headache, the old pipe didn’t taste, and my mind was so foggy that I couldn't control my thoughts properly, and I made a number of errors. I am not myself now. I must see my physician tomorrow; he knows my body almost as well as I know my soul."
All this seems so simple and matter-of-fact, and the knowledge contained in these statements seems so obvious and transparent, that we should scarcely consider it worthy of second thought. Much less should we think that philosophers could discover any deep and mysterious problems hidden in the desultory musings of an old gentleman seeking comfort in his easy-chair. Such, however, is precisely the case.
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