I can never know that I am wrong.

[McCulloch]

It is impossible to say, "I am wrong about my belief about X". As soon as I admit that the belief is wrong, then it ceases to be my belief.

I was wrong, but I cannot be wrong now.

[cnearing]

You *can* be wrong, but you can't know it. That's true. At best, you will only ever know that you were wrong.

A solid point.

[Zzyzx]

.
Is that similar to someone who said, 'I made a mistake once. I thought I was wrong and I wasn't'? (Just kidding).

I avoid the quandary by not subscribing to 'beliefs' (and do not use the term applied to myself). Instead, I accept certain things at least provisionally (but do not 'hook my wagon to them' or 'bet the farm' they are 100% accurate). If conditions change or information available changes, anything accepted can be modified / adjusted / refined / replaced to reflect new and more accurate information.

I'd certainly hate to be locked into a belief system (or anything else) that was 'set in concrete' and considered unchangeable. Many people seem uncomfortable unless their 'stuff' is absolute and certain with no possibility of change. They seem to be in denial that ONE thing we can count on is that all things in life are likely to change -- one way or another -- sooner or later. Perhaps they forget 'This too shall pass away'.

[cnearing]

Actually, I have a pretty good rebuttal of this claim, I think.

Let's say that I have a few tens of thousands of beliefs, each of which I know to have some finite probabability of being wrong.

Given this, it is exceedingly likely that I am wrong about *something* or other.

I may not know *what* I am wrong about, but I can be nearly certain that I am indeed wrong, hence, I can know that I am wrong--just not what I am wrong about.

[McCulloch]

[Replying to post 4 by cnearing]

Yet, still it is impossible to say, "I am wrong about my belief about X".

[Tired of the Nonsense]

It is impossible to say, "I am wrong about my belief about X". As soon as I admit that the belief is wrong, then it ceases to be my belief.

I was wrong, but I cannot be wrong now.

If believers are right, they will find out for certain after they die. If non believers are right, they will never know anything after they die. Knowledge of our own mortality is one of the prices that must be paid for being intelligent.

[JP Cusick]

It is impossible to say, "I am wrong about my belief about X". As soon as I admit that the belief is wrong, then it ceases to be my belief.

I was wrong, but I cannot be wrong now.

It is a show of strength to admit when we are wrong, and yes if we admit our errors then each time we do then we stop being wrong.

The Mahatma Gandhi use to call it as = moving from truth to truth.

The more times we see and admit our mistakes then the more accurate and true we become.

The only way to knowingly be wrong about our belief is by lies, as when a person says things which they know are not true - a liar.

I would expect every person to speak as they honestly believe, and if they are found to be wrong, then I would expect them to admit the mistake and accept the new truth as their new belief.

I find it hard to imagine anyone knowing their belief to be wrong and then to continue with the wrong belief.

A liar actually knows that they are wrong, because if they did not know then it would not be a lie, and so only a liar can know that they are wrong and then continue onward with the lie.

[JP Cusick]

The only way to knowingly be wrong about our belief is by lies, as when a person says things which they know are not true - a liar.

I find it hard to imagine anyone knowing their belief to be wrong and then to continue with the wrong belief.

A liar actually knows that they are wrong, because if they did not know then it would not be a lie, and so only a liar can know that they are wrong and then continue onward with the lie.

I kept thinking about this after making my comment, and now I do think it is very probable that some people really might not be able to distinguish between a lie and the truth.

As like the competition mentality where the person views every thing as a competition, and so they will say whatever they can dream up just to win and to beat the other person(s) and so they do not consider whether it is true or a lie because they are just trying to win.

Maybe some people just do not realize that they are being a liar.

I have known Lawyers like that who give me the impression that they do not know any distinction of truth or lies as they only intend to win their case by any means of any kind.

There is also Politicians who simply must believe that they can repeat the same lie(s) over and over again until the lie magically becomes the truth.

And the mental deception that there is no such thing as right or wrong and therefore no such thing as truth or lie.

[jgh7]

Can I always know that I am right?

[JP Cusick]

Can I always know that I am right?

We can never be right about everything.

A person needs to maintain a level of healthy humility.

To have a belief or theory means that there is an element of doubt, because certainty is a far higher standard than belief or theory.

In some things we can be certain of being right, but even then we must be able to defend the point step by step to the end.