Ah, a reference to Descartes from Janice and Bud. Sweet. And now the answer to the puzzle involving the clock:

(1) It really is 2 o'clock
(2) You believe it is 2 o'clock, because ...
(3) The clock tower says it is 2 o'clock, and finally

(4) No, you do not know that it is 2 o'clock.

It took about two thousand years for philosophers to come up with a reasonable definition of knowledge, even though it isn't perfect: knowledge is true justified belief.

For you to say that know something, call it X, means that

(1) You believe X.
(2) X is true.
(3) Your belief in X is justified.

It is in (3) where the claim to know it is 2 o'clock breaks down. You see, the day before at exactly 2, the clock broke and it's hands have been fixed in this position right up to the moment - purely by coincidence - you walked by and looked at that clock. Your belief that it is 2 o'clock is not justified. Clock ... she broke, man!

Dean

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