Questions tagged [belief]
The belief tag has no usage guidance.
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Do you believe something to be the truth or do you know the truth? [closed]
I think that you know the truth when something has evidence to support it. Belief is unsubstantiated by evidence and is not knowledge. Only you know you have that belief.
For example: When a person ...
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Is the B needed in JTB?
I was thinking about 'unconscious belief' and whether such a thing exists. It seems we can have unconscious knowledge (I believe that cognitive science has proven this), but surely it isn't ...
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Is plausibility more fundamental than probability?
There seem to be many contexts in which it makes sense to define a probability or atleast an approximate one and attach that to a certain proposition. If that is very low, it is often taken to be ...
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Why does Jeffery Conditionalization switch to belief updating via the law of total probability?
In Bayesian Epistemology, Jeffery Conditionalization is motivated by the simple principle of conditionalization being defined so as to permit only decisive evidence which warrants setting the agent's ...
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Punctuation convention to identify propositional contents
I want to know if there is a conventional or acceptable use of punctuation to identify the contents of a proposition. Consider, for example:
Alice believes that both P and it is rational to believe ...
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If someone doesn't believe in "the" theory of category mistakes
There are actually a bunch of these theories (per the SEP entry).1 But so suppose that one believed in no "ontological categories" at all. Or suppose someone were a skeptic about ontological ...
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If someone clearly believes that he has witnessed something extraordinary very clearly, why is it more reasonable to believe that they hallucinated?
I'd first like to make the following point: there is definitely a point at which evidence does make it reasonable to believe extraordinary claims. For example, if all of Europe claims to have seen the ...
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What is the definition of 'belief' and is it irrational to have one? [duplicate]
A belief is not an assumption, otherwise people would use the term 'assumption' more frequently, and 'belief' less frequently, than those terms are used colloquially.
In a reductio ad absurdum proof, ...
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Is it epistemologically self-consistent to use the scientific method to justify some beliefs and non-scientific justifications for others?
Let’s call B(p) the set of all beliefs a person p holds. We can denote S(B(p)) as the subset of beliefs held by p for which they can provide a scientific justification, and NS(B(p)) as the set B(p) ...
user66156
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Is Blaise Pascal's approach to "curing unbelief" in the proposition that God exists philosophically sound?
Hence it comes that, if there are as many risks on one side as on the
other, the course is to play even; and then the certainty of the stake
is equal to the uncertainty of the gain, so far is it from ...
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Can a reliabilist have a reliably justified belief in God?
Reliabilism is defined by several sources as follows:
Reliabilism is an approach to the nature of knowledge and of justified belief. Reliabilism about justification, in its simplest form, says that a ...
user66156
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What sorts of beliefs can be justified non-scientifically?
Can I be justified in believing in a proposition X through a justification that doesn't meet the standards of the scientific method? What sorts of beliefs would be justifiable in this way (non-...
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If a given type of event has never been believed when it didn’t really happen, does belief in such an event necessarily indicate that it happened?
Suppose someone claimed that since a given type of event has never been believed when it didn’t really happen, if it is believed then we have very strong evidence that the event really happened.
Is ...
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Would it be possible to convince a hungry alien species that human lives are valuable?
Suppose that:
an extraterrestrial species comes to earth
they are vastly more intelligent than us, and are capable of easily overpowering us militarily
they have moral intuitions, but different from ...
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Why are most philosophers non-theists and most non-philosophers theists? [closed]
According to PhilPapers Survey 2020, 66.95% of philosophers accept or lean towards atheism and 7.18% are agnostic or undecided, whereas only a 18.93% accepts or leans towards theism. In sharp contrast,...
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How do I validate my confidence in things? [duplicate]
This is honestly tripping me out the more I delved into it.
Of course, I feel more confident that my mother is my real mother than myself being kidnapped tomorrow. But how do I show that this is ...
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Any psychological self-test questionnaire to measure philosophical stances?
Possible cross-domain duplicate: https://psychology.stackexchange.com/questions/17532/are-there-any-tests-for-ones-belief-or-philosophy
There are various multiple-choice questions across internet, ...
user72899
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Is non-physicalism reasonable?
My question has two components:
Reasonableness. What does it mean for a position to be reasonable? What conditions does a position have to meet to be regarded as reasonable?
Physicalism. Wikipedia ...
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Does it matter if certain professions have a lower rate of theism, and if so, why does it matter?
Many of us are familiar with discussions bringing up the correlation with religion and IQ, or educational achievement, or being a professional in a certain field like physics or biology. These are ...
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Can faith be based on hope rather than belief or intellectual assent?
I've been reflecting on the interplay between faith and hope, especially when hope entails some degree of uncertainty and lack of intellectual assent but a strong desire for something to be true. As ...
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Is there an affective state of knowledge or belief? [closed]
Is there an affective state of knowledge or belief? Can I affectively or emotionally know that my wife is having an affair or that I am not the father of my children, but not be able to justify to ...
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Do we need intersubjective agreement for social knowledge?
Do we need intersubjective agreement for social knowledge? Suppose I have two photographs, and I am fairly clear to myself that they are the same person, but everyone else disagrees. Do I know they ...
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What is a "sphere model"?
I'm reading the SEP entry on multi-modal logic and there's this passage:
Is this related to what the SEP entry on infinity says about probability, here?:
Kolmogorov notes that if the original ...
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If an unfalsifiable claim doesn't contradict known fact, is it harmful to hold?
Say panpsychism. It's compatible with physics, but I don't know how we could determine if an electron is conscious. I don't even know you're conscious! But if believing in it made one's life better, ...
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Why is having true beliefs important? (More detail)
I forgot to keep track of my earlier asking of this question. Rather than make similar replies to many comments, I'll elaborate here. I'll use the example of panpsychism: it holds that natural laws ...
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Do people who "withhold judgement" also have a burden of proof?
I will illustrate my question with several examples involving 3 individuals: A, B, C.
Example 1: The shape of the Earth
A defends the claim that the Earth is round.
B defends the claim that the Earth ...
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Is atheism a proposition?
Theism proposes the existence of God. Atheism makes no proposition, it is simply the absence of a belief in God. Theism is the proposition. Atheism is the negation. The negation is not a proposition. ...
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Is there a detailed doxastic logic with a doubt operator?
I was "experimenting" with a doxastic logic with a doubt operator D besides the belief operator B, trying to come up with intuitive equivalences of interleavings (e.g. DBA = BDA, perhaps), ...
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Can private experiences justify private belief in supernaturalism?
Is it ever rational or justified to believe in supernaturalism on the basis of private experiences (of the kind for which publicly accesible evidence can hardly be produced)? If someone has private ...
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Is atheism a belief system? [duplicate]
I do not believe in God. This is not a belief. I have seen the assertion that atheism is a belief system, but no evidence. Is this an unsubstantiated assertion by theists, or is there any ...
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Can God make the belief in His own existence justified (if He exists)?
In a hypothetical scenario in which God exists, would God be able to make the belief in His existence justified for humans? If so, how? What would God need to do to accomplish that goal? If not, does ...
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Is belief a choice or a state of being convinced with regard to a particular statement?
When presented a statement or argument x, and relevant background information B(x), what determines whether the listener's assent to the truth of x can be interpreted as a choice vs an induced state ...
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What does "p is true for S at t" mean?
In Alvin Goldman's article "What Is Justified Belief", what does "p is true for S at t" mean?
where p is a proposition, S is a person and t is time.
More specifically, how is it ...
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Tim lies a lot, so should we believe Tim is the King of France when he claims he isn't? [duplicate]
Tim lies a lot, so should we believe Tim is the King of France when he claims he isn't? What fallacy is saying we should? Is the testimony of a proven liar sometimes or never reason to believe the ...
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What does the Principal Principle say about our rational credences in outcomes?
According to David Lewis, the Principal Principle says that “our beliefs about the objective chances of outcomes (typically) determine our rational credences in those outcomes.”
I’m assuming that this ...
user62907
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Do people believe things that they know or believe are irrational?
Do people believe things that they know or believe are irrational? Do some theists think "I know belief in God is irrational, but I believe in Him anyway". etc.. I've not read Kierkegaard, ...
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Is there a difference between believing something and behaving as if it were true?
To clarify, I mean without deception. In other words, if something seems plausible to me, and I decide to act on it as though it were true while recognizing that I could be mistaken, do I believe it?
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When choosing between two theories, should you believe in the more plausible one? Or have a degree of belief in both?
Suppose you have two theories explaining data and no other theory is possible such that they are logically exhaustive. You know all there is to know about the data and theories.
Should you, now,
A) ...
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Why do we believe certain things if they can’t be justified?
Russell said that “there is no difference between sanity and insanity” if Hume’s problem of induction cannot be solved.
To me, I am not sure if I can justify that the sun will rise tomorrow, even ...
user62907
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If different realities can’t have probabilities, does this mean no reality is more reasonable to believe than another?
This question is ultimately a follow up to this one
For the context of the question, assume that a metaphysical reality is a reality that can be conceived without contradiction and that these ...
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The deception clause in lying
What if I am asked a question, and respond with an untruth I know is untrue, and I don't really care if I am believed, but definitely don't want to be found out (I don't want anyone to know Ive ...
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Do superstitions follow the logic of the empty universe?
Superstitions are of two kinds, false belief about real onjects ( cat crossed road brings bad luck), or belief about objects that cannot exist (ghosts inhabit places where someone was murdered).
Since ...
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Can any state of affairs that is possible under known laws serve as evidence for the supernatural?
Should any of these events, by themselves, serve as evidence for the supernatural or some missing law of nature that may be operating on it? More curiously, should any of these events rationally even ...
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Is it rational to suspend belief in everything except necessarily true/false statements?
Is it rational to suspend belief, in any shape or form, in every statement unless it is logically necessary or incoherent?
For example, is it rational to simply not believe that the sun will rise ...
user62907
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Is it contradictory to believe in something but consider something else possible?
If I believe in god but consider it possible that god may not exist, am I not contradicting myself? If I believe in god, then that means I believe that god exists. In what sense does it make sense to ...
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If we can't be 100% sure of anything, then we have to believe everything with a grain of salt?
If we can't be 100% sure of anything, then we should trust everything with mistrust and suspicion?
For example, the existence of other minds, the existence of the outside world, etc. is currently ...
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How does one quantify how rational it is to believe in something?
How objectively rational is it to believe that God exists or that the sun will rise tomorrow or that my girlfriend will cheat on me?
I understand that the concept of credence and subjective ...
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What is an explanation really?
Let's consider a hypothetical 'Church of the Moon' on a distant planet with a huge moon. The members of this church base all their beliefs about the moon and their religious practices on their holy ...
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Help trying to update beliefs
You lose at cards. Suppose the chances that the other person was card counting, P, is 1/1000.
You lose at cards again. This time, the chances that this person was counting cards, B, is 1/100.
The ...
user66760
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Help working out the believability of some evidence
Suppose I have some evidence of where I was while a crime was being committed, a recording of me visiting a bank and asking for the time of a transaction (which was completed at that time elsewhere). ...
user66760