To What Extent Is Certainty Achievable?

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When the question of certainty in the arts and mathematics is first looked upon, it may seem very obvious that mathematics is easily the more certain of the two, and in fact the most certain of all ways of knowing. Before this can be stated, however, we must first look at ways in which these two areas of knowledge differ, ways of knowing involved with each, and whether or not certainty is infact ever achivable. There are a few key knowledge issues linked to this, for example; if mathematics is based on axioms (assumptions) then how can it achieve certainty? Also to what extent does pespective influence certainty? Through exploring these and many more, we can get a much better understanding of the extent to which certainty can be achieved in both mathematics and the arts. When you ask someone 'what in life are you certain of?' it is likely that their response be one of two things, either that 'we will all die' or simply give a matimatical equation: 1 + 1 will always equal 2. Before continuing into the subject of mathematics, we must first ask; what is certainty? Well, wikipedia defins certainty in two ways: 1) Perfect knowledge that has total security from error, OR 2) The mental state of being without doubt In both cases, the one defining feature is the lack of even the POSSIBILITY of error or doubt. This instantly brings up the question: Can anything in life be certain? Well, through mathematicians concept of rigorus proof, they hope to get as close as possible. Although we often take for granted that mathematics must be true, we must first look into how they come about. This common belief that mathematics provides us with 'certainty' is most likely due to the seemingly objective way that mathematics is derived. On the surface mathematics does seem to be objective, when looking at one defenition; that it it is reliable in its accuracy and provides

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