Parole

The toilet roll was almost finished. Pliny wondered if there was another one.

Do I know if I there's another one? she thought. No, I don't.

Do I know if there isn't another one? she thought. No, I don't.

Then she wondered whether the two statements were the same.

In other words, is it the same not to know whether A exists, as not to know whether A doesn't exist?

Pliny can't think like this for long. She needs examples. She tried to think of some examples.

The first example that came to mind was a toilet roll. This is silly thought Pliny, but I'll see where it leads.

Well, she thought, I'd rather know whether I had one than know whether I didn't. That seems to indicate that the two statements are different. But maybe that is only true when the object is something of importance. What about something of no importance, like a rock?

She imagined a rock on a beach down at Glenelg. Did she know whether it was there or whether it wasn't? She was pretty sure she knew it wasn't. So that line of thought led nowhere.

I know what's wrong, she thought. The existence of the rock and the toilet roll can be verified. I need to think about something that can't, like God. Now, do I know whether God exists? No, I don't. Do I know whether God doesn't exist? No. Do I care? No. Can the existence of God be verified? No. Yes this is a perfect example.

Anyway, by now it had become imperative that Pliny found out whether she did in fact have a spare toilet roll or whether she didn't. She went to look in the bathroom cupboard. She did.
She replaced the empty roll with the new one ( A ). That's funny, she thought. A was the spare toilet roll . Now A doesn't exist, as such. So what I've just found out I knew I had, doesn't exist. That seems to indicate that the two statements are not the same.

A paradox. Oh how I love philosophy.