List Price:$24.95
Our Price: $16.47
You Save: $8.48 (34%)
Prices subject to change.
Availability:Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 153.4
EAN: 9780312359201
ISBN: 0312359209
Label: St. Martin's Press
Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 272
Publication Date: February 05, 2008
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Release Date: February 05, 2008
Sales Rank: 7382
Studio: St. Martin's Press
Related Items:
Editorial Review:
Product Description:
You recognize when you know something for certain, right? You 'know' the sky is blue, or that the traffic light had turned green, or where you were on the morning of September 11, 2001--you know these things, well, because you just do.
In On Being Certain, neurologist Robert Burton challenges the notions of how we think about what we know. He shows that the feeling of certainty we have when we 'know' something comes from sources beyond our control and knowledge. In fact, certainty is a mental sensation, rather than evidence of fact. Because this 'feeling of knowing' seems like confirmation of knowledge, we tend to think of it as a product of reason. But an increasing body of evidence suggests that feelings such as certainty stem from primitive areas of the brain, and are independent of active, conscious reflection and reasoning. The feeling of knowing happens to us; we cannot make it happen.
Bringing together cutting edge neuroscience, experimental data, and fascinating anecdotes, Robert Burton explores the inconsistent and sometimes paradoxical relationship between our thoughts and what we actually know. Provocative and groundbreaking, On Being Certain, will challenge what you know (or think you know) about the mind, knowledge, and reason.
Customer Reviews Average Rating: 
Rating: - A Crucial Question: How Do You Know What You Know?
"On Being Certain: Believing You are Right Even When You're Not" provides a compelling examination of the feeling of certainty each of us have. Robert Burton, a neurologist and gifted writer, argues that this "feeling of knowing" is a sensation, much like touch or sight. Burton proposes a well-crafted thesis, suggesting that this feeling of knowing is identical whether or not the associated knowledge is true. Through a variety of means, he draws in the reader to formulate a convincing case. Burton ... Read More
Rating:  - Engaging and Challenging Exploration of Belief
As an avid reader of books in this category, I was pleased to find something new in Robert Burton's book: a head-on engagement with the infrastructure of belief. The question Burton asks is on the face of it a simple one, but in its implications extremely complex: how do we know what we know? As a matter of practical observation, Burton asks why are some people so utterly convinced that their positions are correct while others consistently entertain doubt? From this starting point, Burton takes us ... Read More
Rating: - Great book
This is the challenge to 'certainty' (>>the kind of 'certainty', that is very familiar to religious and fanatic people<<) from the direction of SCIENCE (and not just philosophy) that has long been overdue.
And also it's like a shout out from the conscience of science to us scientists and the normal person from the street who has (maybe) never thought about what science does, and that message is:
"1.) Keep in mind, what 'certainty' means in science!
2.) Don't over -estimate/ ... Read More
Rating:  - cdc444got it wrong
On Being Certain started out moderately interesting but at page 52 I hit a severe snag. When an author gets something I know about so totally wrong (or is being gratuitously nasty) I find I cannot trust what he says about things I don't know so much about. The comment that B.F. Skinner wanted to raise people like veal is so totally absurd I couldn't finish the book and will be returning it to Amazon for a refund.
Rating:  - Entertaining and Interesting, but...
I am always slightly annoyed when a book is not about what is is supposed to be about. A few chapters of this book - those towards the end - are on why the feeling of certainty is just that: a feeling. This leads the author to some interesting discussions about how the 'feeling of certianty (a feeling though it is) is something that tends not to be subject to reason, but owes more to emotion. The author also goes into some really interesting thoughts about evolutionary reasons why the feeling of certainty ... Read More
On Being Certain: Believing You Are Right Even When You're Not |
