Is there anything skeptics can't reduce

Yes, it is possible.

If I hold a brick in my hand and let go, I am certain it will drop to the floor.
Actually, it is the floor that drops, relative to the observational frame of the brick.

Actually, this strawman of Iacchus's is one we have seen many times before, most recently in the "elephant" thread. Iacchus equates "anything less than 100% certainty" with "total uncertainty"; in his black-and-white world of absolutes, it might even make sense to him.

As Trixie hints, we can be certain of some things. We can, for instance, be certain that something does not exist if it is logically impossible (within two-dimensional Euclidian geometry, a square circle cannot exist). Because of the inherent circularity in the arguments you have presented, we can be certain that there is no evidence whatsoever for your notions of "before time" and "outside of space". (I speak here only of Iacchus's notions--I am not aware of other theories which might be logically tenable, but I suppose they could exist.)

We can certainly be "more confident" and "less confident" in our statements even if "certainty" is reserved for 100%. We can know, for instance, that a particular claim is consistent with evidence, and another is not. Again, Iacchus's notions lose out here.

For Iacchus to point to science and say "there is no 100% certainty here...therefore my ideas are as legitimate as theirs" is laughable. Somewhere recently on this forum, somebody paraphrased Sagan: "if a person says the earth is flat, he is wrong. If another person says the earth is a perfect sphere, that person is also wrong. But if you think that the two of them are equally wrong, you are more wrong than both of them put together!"

eta: it was in Roborama's sig, and it was Asimov, not Sagan:
"... when people thought the Earth was flat, they were wrong. When people thought the Earth was spherical they were wrong. But if you think that thinking the Earth is spherical is just as wrong as thinking the Earth is flat, then your view is wronger than both of them put together."
Isaac Asimov
 
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mumblegrumblepicayunesmart-alecks

I shall have to petition the mods to change your name from "Tricky" to "Picky"

:D
LOL. Well, Iacchus' second point was that since nothing is 100% certain, all beliefs are equal. It was necessary to show him that even if correct about the lack of 100% certainty, all beliefs are not equal.

Two guesses as to where his first point is located.
 
Somewhere recently on this forum, somebody paraphrased Sagan: "if a person says the earth is flat, he is wrong. If another person says the earth is a perfect sphere, that person is also wrong. But if you think that the two of them are equally wrong, you are more wrong than both of them put together!"
It was actually Asimov, in his essay, "The relativity of wrong". Well worth reading, he made clear a lot of what I often wish I could say.

The problem is that usually when I want to say it, I'm having a hard time not strangling someone, so I don't tend to be all that clear. The most I tend to be capable of at times like that is, "Argh! but, common - how can you - I mean, damnit! ugh!"
 
Let the timestamps show I edited my post just barely before Roboramma corrected me...and let the post show that I still screwed up and misspelled Roboramma as Roborama.

Nerts.
 
Nooo! Mercutio has been proven wrong about an ancilliary point. Your correction of a tangential point means that Mercutio isn't 100% correct. Now skepticism, science and logic have been proven meaningless. The leprachauns shall inherit the Earth!
 
Nooo! Mercutio has been proven wrong about an ancilliary point. Your correction of a tangential point means that Mercutio isn't 100% correct. Now skepticism, science and logic have been proven meaningless. The leprachauns shall inherit the Earth!
I blame Darat.
 
LOL. Well, Iacchus' second point was that since nothing is 100% certain, all beliefs are equal. It was necessary to show him that even if correct about the lack of 100% certainty, all beliefs are not equal.

Two guesses as to where his first point is located.

Ummm. . . roughly equidistant between his ears and about 6-12 inches higher?
 
Other than the fact that he lists his location as "the 4th level of hell", and the appearrance of his avatar, and that he is clearly a God-hater, or God-denialist, no.

So... can I assume you're a 12th century crusader ?

Only in that if he is, he would be a hypocritical satanist, in that satanism is a religion, and that would make him a "woo", wouldn't it?

It sure would.
 
Do you believe it's possible to be certain of anything? This, in fact, is the key.

For someone who, on the surface, appears to argue for shades of grey between black and white polar opposites, you seem awful intent on stuffing skepticism on to one of those poles.
 
So... can I assume you're a 12th century crusader ?

Duh! Mercutio is Ben Affleck. Nyarlathotep is an Elder God, I am an insect larva, BigNickel is a giant coin Two-Face used to try to kill Batman, Jeff Wagg is a two dimensional bicoloured rectangular organism, and Iacchus is a dolphin.

Where have you been?
 
So you DON'T know.
Yes, it is possible.

If I hold a brick in my hand and let go, I am certain it will drop to the floor.
Yes, and contrasted with what I previously said ...

I most certainly am.
Yes, I am certain that it is "I" who sits in front of the computer typing at the keyboad ... Which isn't to say I can't be that certain of anything else but, this is where it all begins ... the awareness of oneself in the moment, i.e., self-awareness.
 
Actually, this strawman of Iacchus's is one we have seen many times before, most recently in the "elephant" thread. Iacchus equates "anything less than 100% certainty" with "total uncertainty"; in his black-and-white world of absolutes, it might even make sense to him.
That's a lie.
 

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