for what reason? — Noble Dust
I will say to the moderators, even though the thread was far too popular for you to delete or close, I appreciate that nonsense like this was able to be addressed. Free speech means that all ideas, no matter how close-minded, need to be brought to the table, if only to be shot down. — Noble Dust
Types of posters who are not welcome here:
Evangelists: Those who must convince everyone that their religion, ideology, political persuasion, or philosophical theory is the only one worth having.
I agree, but in the long run such people are not good for the forum. He was banned for evangelism. As it says in the guidelines: — jamalrob
I believe nothing. I seek to know. — charleton
When you know, you believe.
And when you take it to be the case that "the idea that people are free to believe what they want ... is a dangerous and damaging idea", then that is what you believe. — jamalrob
It's not belief that's the problem, but certain kinds of belief, for example, belief contrary to evidence.
ProgrammingGodJordan was unable to see this. I hope you're not. — jamalrob
You are making the confusion, by using a definition of belief which is basically meaningless, as it encompasses 1+1=2 as a belief, and I believe in fairies. — charleton
I don't see how it follows from the fact that some beliefs are true and some are false that this concept of belief--a very ordinary one, and also the philosophical one--is meaningless. — jamalrob
↪charleton Ah, I see what you mean. Actually though, I think one can believe without being able to justify it. In fact, I think there are basic beliefs that cannot be justified. Rather, they are implied in the way we go about things. — jamalrob
Could Neil Tyson be onto something? Does science stop being valid if we don't believe in science? — ThoughtCurvature
He's not saying that at all. And you know it. — charleton
Edit: that came out wrong. I have respect for Meta because of his capacity to engage in discussion. That is entirely absent here. So is that the difference between a crackpot and a philosopher?) — Banno
My question is more about the difference between the crackpot and the serious eccentric. — Banno
Belief is a model that generally permits the ignorance of evidence. — ProgrammingGodJordan
You know, it occurs to me that I would be proud of a thread such as this, with no content and a few hundred replies. — Banno
He was banned... — jamalrob
Belief as commonly used. Means accepting things as true you know to be lies; at one extreme. and matters of irrefutable fact on the other. — charleton
Get involved in philosophical discussions about knowledge, truth, language, consciousness, science, politics, religion, logic and mathematics, art, history, and lots more. No ads, no clutter, and very little agreement — just fascinating conversations.