Everyone thinks their beliefs are reasonable — khaled
Maybe we already decided what to believe for the most part, and only doubt as a pretense to seem reasonable in front of others, when we're really just trying to find a way to confirm our own beliefs logically. — khaled
We'd no doubt like to imagine they're foundational. The phenomenal influence of culture, social group, peer belief, subliminal data etc on our beliefs pretty much conclusively shows otherwise. — Isaac
The question then is: Now what? Is this reason to doubt more, or less? — khaled
Then again, doesn't this also apply for the reasons you believe this: — khaled
We seem to be stuck here. If we throw everything out as "Oh you just believe that because you've been conditioned to believe that" we'd have to throw THAT out too. — khaled
It's just about recognising that there are numerous influences on beliefs. I'm not even rejecting the idea that things like parsimony, coherence and the like are in the mix.
The problem is reliably isolating them by introspection is very difficult — Isaac
Does it matter? If we're not really arriving at our beliefs that way anyway, then we don't really need an answer to that question. — Isaac
Everyone thinks their beliefs are reasonable and everyone has differing beliefs (on this site and elsewhere). So by definition some of these beliefs would be unreasonable. — khaled
Right but what do we do instead of introspection? — khaled
I would think the answer is “No” then. Doubting your beliefs isn’t fun usually. And if it’s not how you arrive at beliefs anyways then why bother with it? — khaled
How do you know if you're doubting too much or too little? — khaled
Descartes never really doubted anything. He was engaged in an exercise which he thought necessaryWas Descartes reasonable in trying to doubt every last belief of his? — khaled
There's a social value in having a case that is immune (or seemingly so) to counter-argument using established methods of debate. That social value is not the same as the utility/aesthetic value of the belief to you. — Isaac
When should you favor the utility/aesthetic value over the social value? — khaled
No. He had no grounds, or reasons, to "doubt everything". Proof: he couldn't even doubt that he was doubting ... which, not entailing, presupposes (on pain of performative contradiction to deny) himself embodied and imbedded in the world. Only beliefs lacking sufficient grounds are dubious – such as Descartes' belief that 'it's reasonable to doubt that for which there aren't sufficient grounds to doubt' (vide Peirce's "paper doubts", Witty's On Certainty).Was Descartes reasonable in trying to doubt every last belief of his? — khaled
If you're certain, you're certainly wrong because nothing deserves certainty — Bertrand Russell
Was Descartes reasonable in trying to doubt every last belief of his? — khaled
Everyone thinks their beliefs are reasonable and everyone has differing beliefs (on this site and elsewhere). So by definition some of these beliefs would be unreasonable. — khaled
Doesn't lead to contradictions, has supporting evidence, is the simplest alternative for explaining things, etc.. — khaled
The question is: What degree of doubt is reasonable? How do you know if you're doubting too much or too little? — khaled
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