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Quote request: "if even the Sun requires proof"

by Smaug123
7th May 2022
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Quote request: "if even the Sun requires proof"
15gwern
10Smaug123
3Hoagy
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gwern

May 07, 2022

150

"Daylight", not "sun": https://www.gwern.net/Modus

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[-]Smaug1233y100

Wonderful, thanks! Recording the quote for posterity:

Nothing can be soundly understood 
If daylight itself needs proof.

(Imam al-Haddad⁠, The Sublime Treasures)

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Hoagy

May 07, 2022

30

Don't know the original quote but strongly reminds me of GE Moore's response to skeptical arguments: 'Here is one hand' (wiki)

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I remember reading a quote, I think from the Buddhist or some other Eastern tradition, about how if you've argued yourself into believing the Sun doesn't exist, you've gone horribly wrong. It went something like "Nothing can be known, if even the Sun requires proof". I think I read it either on LessWrong or on gwern.net several years ago, but for the life of me I can't find it. I remember it being phrased more poetically than prosaically.

Does anyone know what quote I'm referring to, and where to find it?