So the system of theology in the Dark Ages (and latter) took Aristotle's idea that God is most actual, and that there is a hierarchy in "creation" where those higher up have more actuality than the lower. This literal deification of action has always puzzled me. First, maybe in thought the highest thing would be an infinite mind. That doesn't mean it must be that way in reality. I tend to believe that everything in creation has the same potency and actuality. How is this related to yin and yang however? Plotinus thought the highest Good to be pure potentiality. There is no clear argument from the Thomist camp to refute this (though they try so hard). Why is activity even better than passivity in any system? — Gregory
What did you mean that "you tend to 'believe' that, Gregory?
Can you state it clearly without the use of the word "believe?" — Frank Apisa
People get hunches based on their reasoning. If it becomes clearer the more I mull over it, I say I believe. I tend to say "I believe" for everything I currently think (there's the replacement work) because I am open to being wrong about everything — Gregory
tim wood
4k
Why is activity even better than passivity in any system?
— Gregory
Are you confusing actual with action? — tim wood
Probably would be better to take that question over to the other thread, Tim. — Frank Apisa
As the old saying goes, "Actions speak louder than words"; what I truly believe is more reliably discerned from what I do than from what I say.And what, then, is belief? It is the demi-cadence which closes a musical phrase in the symphony of our intellectual life. We have seen that it has just three properties: First, it is something that we are aware of; second, it appeases the irritation of doubt; and, third, it involves the establishment in our nature of a rule of action, or, say for short, a habit ... The essence of belief is the establishment of a habit; and different beliefs are distinguished by the different modes of action to which they give rise. If beliefs do not differ in this respect, if they appease the same doubt by producing the same rule of action, then no mere differences in the manner of consciousness of them can make them different beliefs, any more than playing a tune in different keys is playing different tunes. — Peirce, 1878
tim wood
4k
Probably would be better to take that question over to the other thread, Tim.
— Frank Apisa
And why would that be, Frank? — tim wood
3017amen
1.5k
↪Frank Apisa
Frank!
I think you could parse Belief a couple ways.
1. Belief could be defined as induction v. deduction. Having a belief in something infers something. It infers that a something exists. That, as apposed to a purely objective and/or universal truth, like mathematics, which exists in a deductive manner.
2. A Belief could comprise the following infamous Kantian judgement: all events must have a cause. The statement itself, if true, is something that would be beyond pure reason; both empirically and a priori/mathematical/deductively.
You probably already knew that! — 3017amen
aletheist
1.3k
↪Frank Apisa
As usual, I will offer something from Charles Sanders Peirce, in this case his somewhat famous definition of a belief as a habit of conduct.
And what, then, is belief? It is the demi-cadence which closes a musical phrase in the symphony of our intellectual life. We have seen that it has just three properties: First, it is something that we are aware of; second, it appeases the irritation of doubt; and, third, it involves the establishment in our nature of a rule of action, or, say for short, a habit ... The essence of belief is the establishment of a habit; and different beliefs are distinguished by the different modes of action to which they give rise. If beliefs do not differ in this respect, if they appease the same doubt by producing the same rule of action, then no mere differences in the manner of consciousness of them can make them different beliefs, any more than playing a tune in different keys is playing different tunes.
— Peirce, 1878
As the old saying goes, "Actions speak louder than words"; what I truly believe is more reliably discerned from what I do than from what I say. — aletheist
Because that is where that is being discussed, Tim. — Frank Apisa
Why do you disagree? And why would that be obvious?Obviously I disagree in total with Peirce. — Frank Apisa
where the words "believe/belief" rear their ugly heads — Frank Apisa
aletheist
1.3k
Obviously I disagree in total with Peirce.
— Frank Apisa
Why do you disagree? — aletheist
And why would that be obvious?
A Seagull
326
where the words "believe/belief" rear their ugly heads
— Frank Apisa
Well I find the words belief, believe extremely useful and meaningful.
Your beliefs are what you believe, they are the ideas you hold in your head. — A Seagull
Borraz
18
↪Frank Apisa
"The use of the word "believe" for hunch, or guess, or estimate, or so many other words is fine...except there are times when it makes more sense to use "the other words.""
Okay. Everybody speaks about physics and math. — Borraz
fdrake
3.3k
What do you mean by "mean" in the OP question? — fdrake
What do you mean by "what?" — Frank Apisa
fdrake
3.3k
What do you mean by "mean" in the OP question? — fdrake
fdrake
3.3k
What do you mean by "what?"
— Frank Apisa
What do you mean by "what", "do", "you", "mean", "by" and "what"? — fdrake
Okay, I was a bit abrupt there. Question like that seem to be a stalling or diverting tactic. — Frank Apisa
...assume I meant that same thing... — Frank Apisa
I suspect that your view on this is much closer to his than you realize. If a purported belief makes no difference whatsoever in our conduct, then it is not a real belief, just empty words.Charles Peirce was an incredibly intelligent man...but he simply missed the boat on this issue. — Frank Apisa
fdrake
3.3k
Okay, I was a bit abrupt there. Question like that seem to be a stalling or diverting tactic.
— Frank Apisa
What do you mean by "I" and "was" and "question"?
...assume I meant that same thing...
— Frank Apisa
If you can do this, then the OP unasks itself. — fdrake
aletheist
1.3k
Charles Peirce was an incredibly intelligent man...but he simply missed the boat on this issue.
— Frank Apisa
I suspect that your view on this is much closer to his than you realize. If a purported belief makes no difference whatsoever in our conduct, then it is not a real belief, just empty words. — aletheist
What is reality? Perhaps there isn’t any such thing at all. As I have repeatedly insisted, it is but a retroduction, a working hypothesis which we try, our one desperate forlorn
hope of knowing anything. — Peirce, 1898
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