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Ray: Reasonable doubt; moral certainty When one is "beyond doubt" or an issue has been settled "beyond doubt," it means that certainty has been established to such a degree that there can be no question whatsoever of the truth. On almost every question, the only people who claim to be 100% beyond doubt are gods, egotists, and fanatics. Mature people generally allow for the possibility, however slim, that what they Know for Certain may be disproved. REASONABLE DOUBT -- ".refers to the degree of certainty required of a juror before he or she can make a legally valid determination of the guilt of a criminal defendant.The term doesn't require that the evidence be so clear that no possibility of error exists; it means that the evidence must be so conclusive that all reasonable doubts are removed from the mind of the ordinary person. See also moral certainty." "MORAL CERTAINTY -- certainty beyond a reasonable doubt; a conviction based on persuasive reasons and excluding doubts that a contrary conclusion can exit. A juror is said to be morally certain of a fact when he or she would act in reliance upon its truth in matters of greatest importance to himself or herself." "REASONABLE MAN (OR PERSON) -- a phrase used to denote a hypothetical person who exercises qualities of attention, knowledge, intelligence and judgment that society requires of its members for the protection of their own interests and the interests of others." Ned From http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_ ----- Original Message ----- From: "rayilynlee" <[log in to unmask]> To: <[log in to unmask]> Sent: Thursday, March 17, 2005 12:11 PM Subject: Re: Moral certainty > Moral certainty is the cause of wars, bigotry, intolerance and much > suffering. The person who is certain he is right about as yet > unanswerable questions is a tremendous obstacle to progress. Education > teaches you how much you don't know and defines the boundaries of > your > knowledge. > > My education tells me a cell is a cell and there is good reason to call > it a cell, not a person. I need to hear some good reasons why a cell > is > a person to change my mind, not ooh don't name-call. > > Rayilyn Brown, MA major History. minor Philosophy, UCLA > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Ned Gardner" <[log in to unmask]> > To: <[log in to unmask]> > Sent: Wednesday, March 16, 2005 7:25 PM > Subject: Re: Souls in limbo > > >> Don: >> >> Moral certainty is always a sign of cultural inferiority. The more >> uncivilized the man, the surer he is that he knows precisely what is >> right >> and what is wrong. All human progress, even in morals, has been the work >> of >> men who have doubted the current moral values, not of men who have >> whooped >> them up and tried to enforce them. The truly civilized man is always >> skeptical and tolerant. >> -- H. L. Mencken, Minority Report (1956) >> >> >> Ned >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Don Mckinley" <[log in to unmask]> >> To: <[log in to unmask]> >> Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2005 2:32 PM >> Subject: Re: Souls in limbo >> >> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn