Like Kant, these philosophers are struggling to determine whether…

Like Kant, these philosophers are struggling to determine whether…

Like Kant, these philosophers are struggling to determine whether

the real world is out there like it is inside of us. Hume in some ways gets at the problem best: I know my emotions with more certainty than I know whether or not what they refer to is real. You nurses are all very familiar with this on the subjective pain scale: “On a scale of one to ten how much does this hurt?” Did you ever wonder why you use this? Some patients say a hangnail is a 10! others say a broken leg is a 5. How can that be? A broken leg should hurt more than 5 and a hangnail less than 10. Ask a mom who has had 5 kids how much something hurts, just about nothing hurts more than 6, probably even a torn off limb would only get a 6 and a half.

So riddle me this: How can you ever know someone loves you as much as you love them? Love is subjective but it is also certain! I know I love my wife with every ounce of my ability to love, but I am not ever entirely sure what she is talking about, or even if she is actually out there like I see her. The same applies to God. I know I feel faith, but it is impossible to know if God exists in the external world. Does this mean subjective impressions are more certain than objective things? Is any objective evidence ever sufficient to assure that someone else really loves you? Or is the best you can know is that you love someone else? Does love make a sound when it falls in the forest and only you are listening?

BE SURE TO USE HUME and maybe Kant and Locke too.