How could it make sense to deny that suppositions are beliefs? — Janus
To me, the most important insight of Collingwood's essay is that absolute presuppositions are not facts. They are not true or false. They are useful or not useful in the particular situation in which we find ourselves. As I see it, we choose absolute presuppositions, either consciously or, more likely, unconsciously. I'm not sure if Collingwood would agree with that. — T Clark
If suppositions or presuppositions are beliefs, which in accordance with ordinary parlance they indeed are, then absolute presuppositions are absolute beliefs. The logic is inexorable. — Janus
You should not presume to know that Collingwood would have rejected the use of the term belief as a synonym for presupposition. It just doesn't happen to be the term he used is all; to quibble over that thus seems quite pedantic and supercilious, and irrelevant to the OP. — Janus
In Belief and Truth: A Skeptic Reading of Plato, I explore a Socratic intuition about the difference between belief and knowledge. Beliefs, doxai, are deficient cognitive attitudes. In believing something, one accepts some content as true without knowing that it is true; one holds something to be true that could turn out to be false. Since our actions reflect what we hold to be true, holding beliefs is potentially harmful for oneself and others. Accordingly, beliefs are ethically worrisome and even, in the words of Plato’s Socrates, “shameful. — Katja Vogt
How could it make sense to deny that suppositions are beliefs? — Janus
All you have said so far is that absolute presuppositions (in distinction to ordinary presuppositions) can be neither true nor false. I know Collingwood says that; I have read An Essay on Metaphysics. I am not convinced he is right, but that is a separate issue. — Janus
And the problem with calling them beliefs is the simple inaccuracy of the label. Anyone wo reads RGC can more-or-less understand him reasonably well. Why not use his terminology for his ideas? And if there's a problem with his ideas, best they're argued out using his terms. — tim wood
Well, this may be where the matter of interest lies.I am not convinced he is right, but that is a separate issue. — Janus
You cannot know that because that is not what he says, not his argument. It's nuance, and you have to go back to your book and re-read. — tim wood
If suppositions or presuppositions are beliefs, which in accordance with ordinary parlance they indeed are, then absolute presuppositions are absolute beliefs. The logic is inexorable. — Janus
That may be arguable but it's irrelevant. Propositions don't have to be propounded, anymore than beliefs have to be believed or presuppositions have to be presupposed. — Janus
Collingwood defines absolute presuppositions as having no truth value. — T Clark
He does not say that. And they're not propounded (his word); they're presupposed. There's no law against saying them, nor knowing what they are, but there is much confusion about their function.Collingwood wants to say that these have no truth value, but is that simply because they've gone unstated, and thus not articulated by the person holding them? — creativesoul
Collingwood wants to say that these have no truth value, — creativesoul
He does not say that. — tim wood
If absolute presuppositions are claimed to be the unquestioned hidden basis of ones worldview, — creativesoul
Collingwood wants to say that these hav no truth value, but is that simply because they've gone unstated, and thus not articulated by the person holding them? — creativesoul
...your mother loves you... — tim wood
I’m surprised you’d consider presuppositions are beliefs, or, as you say later, are truth-apt. Both of those would seem to make presuppositions congruent with empirical judgements and absolute presuppositions congruent with a priori judgements. Dunno how to justify that, at least from a metaphysical domain.You know...what with logical priority and all. — Mww
"Absolute belief"? This speaks to the believer, yes? And not the thing believed? — tim wood
If absolute presuppositions are claimed to be the unquestioned hidden basis of ones worldview,
— creativesoul
This is not the case. — T Clark
They? And how can a belief itself be anything other than a belief? And certainly how can it be absolute?It speaks to both the believer and the belief that they form, have, and/or hold. — creativesoul
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