I'm an atheist but some things I cannot allow myself to believe, determinism being one of those things. Even if it comes to be that all of accepted human knowledge concludes that is in fact correct. Am I wrong? Why? — AlmostOutlier
Am I wrong? Why? — AlmostOutlier
So you're saying you have no control over what you believe? — AlmostOutlier
So if I am born into a society that believes something or thinks a certain way, I must by extension inherit those beliefs and hold them true. As opposed to determining by myself what seems logical and believable. — AlmostOutlier
I have a question, is it right to pick beliefs regardless of accuracy if they make you a better, more functional person? For example believing in free will rather than determinism because the latter belief makes it difficult to act as a self motivated individual. Or, if you are religious, believing in god as opposed to nihilism, because creating ones own meaning is difficult considering the random nature of reality. Should one be a utilitarian with one's beliefs? I'm an atheist but some things I cannot allow myself to believe, determinism being one of those things. Even if it comes to be that all of accepted human knowledge concludes that is in fact correct. Am I wrong? Why? — AlmostOutlier
You can attempt to hold two opposites in your mind as true, or at least equally uncertain, but at the end of the day, you must act as if one is true. — AlmostOutlier
The notion of picking beliefs strikes me as oxymoronic and disingenuous, like picking where you were born, your age, or who you'll bump into today. — Sapientia
I'm very sympathetic to this view. It does leave me with a bit of a puzzle though. If we do not choose our beliefs, should we say they are caused? In some scenarios that seems okay; perception seems like this.
But what about reasoning? Suppose A being the case makes it that B is. Then we would customarily say that believing A is a reason for believing B, that if you think A likely, for instance, then you should think B likely.
What do we mean by "should" there? That suggests you could choose to reason this way or not. Does that leave us saying you cannot choose simpliciter to believe B, but you can choose to conclude B by reasoning? Would you then be choosing to cause yourself to believe that B? — Srap Tasmaner
I'm not sure your example is the same though. Yours I hear as a subjunctive, acknowledging gravity as an hypothesis.
I took my "should" as normative: if you reason the way we do around here, this is what you'll conclude. Not an expectation in the predictive sense, but in the "it's mandatory" sense. (Every one of these words tries to be ambiguous in the same way...) — Srap Tasmaner
is it right to pick beliefs regardless of accuracy — AlmostOutlier
the presumed choice still seems to appear out of thin air without explanation — Sapientia
If my reasoning doesn't match theirs, then that's that. What's the choice supposed to be? The only choice that I see would be the choice to conform disingenuously or stand by my reasoning. That's no choice at all for someone like me. — Sapientia
For example believing in free will rather than determinism because the latter belief makes it difficult to act as a self motivated individual. — AlmostOutlier
I don't disagree — Sapientia
Touche' however If I were living in a deterministic universe, I suppose I could have the illusion that I chose to believe in free will. — AlmostOutlier
I have a question, is it right to pick beliefs regardless of accuracy if they make you a better, more functional person? For example believing in free will rather than determinism because the latter belief makes it difficult to act as a self motivated individual. Or, if you are religious, believing in god as opposed to nihilism, because creating ones own meaning is difficult considering the random nature of reality. Should one be a utilitarian with one's beliefs? I'm an atheist but some things I cannot allow myself to believe, determinism being one of those things. Even if it comes to be that all of accepted human knowledge concludes that is in fact correct. Am I wrong? Why?
I have a question, is it right to pick beliefs regardless of accuracy if they make you a better, more functional person? — AlmostOutlier
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