Might it be better to think of belief as an explanation of behaviour? Therefore, that the individual holds the (stated) belief is an explanation of the tendency to act. — Luke
we wouldn't say a tree believes it should grow toward the sun. — frank
↪Sam26
I found jamalrob to be quite clear:
A belief just is an attitude to the world (or a mental state if you like) when rendered as a statement.
— jamalrob
Therefore, beliefs are not pre-linguistic or non-linguistic. Unless a belief is something else? — Luke
Indeed. I think to capture the use of the term you have to limit it to features of (or linguistic representations of features of) a mind. Ramsey expresses beliefs as probabilities and I think that is essential. Probability requires prediction, which a tree can't do (I don't think they can anyway). — Isaac
Would this also work for unconscious beliefs? — frank
We have to render both into statements to talk about them, but neither actually consist of the statement.
You seem to be saying that beliefs are necessarily a different kind of thing where the fact that we have to render them into statements carries some additional burden not applicable to physical laws or features. It's this step that I'm not understanding. — Isaac
What I'm trying to draw a parallel between is the idea that a belief can actually be a certain arrangement of neural connections in the same way that a physical law or feature can actually be some arrangement of matter. We have to render both into statements to talk about them, but neither actually consist of the statement. — Isaac
My cat takes it to be the case that the floor is solid. He does not, for example, tentatively test the floor with his paw to check for solidity before walking on it. He takes it to be the case that the floor is solid, despite his not being able to articulate this in English. — Banno
Now that's fine, so long as it is clear that this is not the same as using it to refer to the way we take things to be - the folk definition of "belief", if you will. — Banno
you can use "cow" to mean brick, but you can't build a house out of cows. — Banno
Cats draw correlations between the moving ground and it's effect/affect upon them. That effect/affect is completely involuntary. Cats draw connections between the uncertainty and fear and the wobbly ground. They test. Only when the ground stops moving under their feet, can they go on their way and no longer think about it. — creativesoul
So I understand what you mean when you say that a belief is the (imagined) state of affairs one takes to be the case. But to a physicalist, that definition falls short because we then want to know where such a thing is. Without positing a domain of thought (and I sincerely hope you're not suggesting we do that), we need to know where such a state of affairs is, what does and imagined state of affairs consist of, physically. It's not in the real world outside of our minds - it's not the actual arrangement of such, otherwise beliefs could not be wrong. So what are we physically talking about when we say "an imagined state of affairs"? My answer is a particular arrangement of neural connections, hence that's what a belief is, physically. A belief is 'the imagined state of affairs one acts as if were the case' and all 'imagined states of affairs' are particular neural arrangements in a capable brain. The alternative is dualism. — Isaac
The correlations were drawn at the time between it's own mental ongoings and the noticeable change in the surface; going from wobbly to solid. — creativesoul
What sense does it then make for us to say that the cat takes it to be the case that the floor is solid, while the cat's not even paying attention to the floor? That is to say that it is taking something to be the case while not paying it any attention. — creativesoul
The sense in which one might think that the cat takes the floor to be solid is that it does not even pay attention to the solidness of the floor. — Banno
What correlations do you mean here - are they important to your point? — Banno
The sense in which one might think that the cat takes the floor to be solid is that it does not even pay attention to the solidness of the floor. — Banno
The sense in which one might think that the cat takes the floor to be solid is that it does not even pay attention to the solidness of the floor. — Banno
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