Cory asked:

It seems to me that by saying that knowledge is unattainable, the skeptic seems to be professing that
he has knowledge of what is unattainable. Is this not being hypocritical?

Even though universal skeptics claim that true knowledge is unattainable, could they still claim that
some beliefs are more worthy of being embraced than others? Do some universal skeptics still have
any strong beliefs?

Cory also asked:

Hume said that just because the sun has risen every day in the past, it is not certain that the sun will
rise again tomorrow. It was brought up in my philosophy class that we think that the sun will
PROBABLY rise tomorrow. Is it possible for one to have certain knowledge that something will
possibly/ probably happen? Could this disprove skeptics' arguments?

============

Why not? And they do claim that. I have never met a universal skeptic but, as I have just said, why
shouldn't they? Believing and knowing are different.

About your second question. I don't think it is possible to have certain knowledge about anything, but
that doesn't mean we cannot have knowledge, but without certainty.

We do, without doubt, think (believe) that the sun will rise tomorrow. And we also think (believe) it will
probably rise tomorrow. As I said before, I don't believe it is possible to have certain knowledge about
anything, but I think we can know that the sun will probably rise tomorrow. The fact that it has risen in
the past, and that there are no good reasons for thinking it won't rise tomorrow, justifies us in thinking
that it is not only thinking it will rise tomorrow, but knowing that it is probable that it will rise tomorrow.
Moreover, it would also justify the claim that we know it will rise tomorrow.

The fact that it might not rise tomorrow, is not a good reason for thinking we do not know the sun will
rise tomorrow, since the principle that if something might not happen, we cannot know that it will
happen, is false. So, you can tell your classmates not to fret. We not only know it is probable that the
sun will rise tomorrow; be know that the sun will rise tomorrow, although not for certain.

Ken Stern