> with a once comforting illusion of crisp, clean certainty rapidly giving way to a panicked feeling of sinking into shifting quicksand. Sounds like he is desc

> with a once comforting illusion of crisp, clean certainty rapidly giving way to a panicked feeling of sinking into shifting quicksand. Sounds like he is describing the intellectual development of Bertrand Russell, who spent ten years proving that 1+1=2. Legend has it that his huge book on the subject (Principia Mathematica) has never been read cover to cover. With such precedents as Russell and Wittgenstein it's ridiculous for any modern person to expect "crisp, clean certainty" in anything involving language.