There has to be proof for me to believe in other minds. — GLEN willows
So if you're predisposed to be afraid of people that don't look like you, that gives the notion some weight? — GLEN willows
Please answer my questions — GLEN willows
We are born with beliefs, and need proof to change them, if I can summarize. — GLEN willows
This seems obvious though, and not sure what it has to do with the topic. I may have been born believing there are other minds, or born believing the opposite. Does that have anything to do with whether there ARE other minds? — GLEN willows
Another performative paradox - you request, even demand, answers from folk whose existence you claim to need proof of. — Banno
I think that is not the case. I suggest that you do believe in other minds, except for the purposes of the peculiar game of writing posts on the philosophy forum. As evidence for that, I cite your continued participation in this thread. Not just that you continue to interact with us, but that you demonstrate a reasonable level of interaction - you are able to access and use a device of some sort in order to be here, you have a reasonable grasp of English, you recognise humour and have a grasp of the nature of argument and some familiarity with the philosophical context in which we are talking. If you did not believe in other minds, these interactions would be difficult to explain. — Banno
Ok re-reading your post I see what you're saying. We are born with beliefs, and need proof to change them, if I can summarize.
This seems obvious though, and not sure what it has to do with the topic. I may have been born believing there are other minds, or born believing the opposite. Does that have anything to do with whether there ARE other minds? — GLEN willows
I made it clear I’m not a solipsist (if I was why would I be talking to you?) but I need a logical way to dismiss it. — GLEN willows
Philosophy once aspired to set all knowledge on a firm foundation. Genuine knowledge claims were to be derived from indubitable truths by means of infallible rules. The terms that make up such truths were held to denote the individuals and kinds that constitute reality, and the rules for combining them into sentences and for deriving some sentences from others were thought to reflect the real order of things.
This philosophical enterprise has foundered. Indubitable truths and infallible rules are not to be had. Philosophy cannot expect to underwrite the assertions of other disciplines, for its own assertions are no more secure than the rest. Nor can it reasonably aspire to certainty. For without indubitable starting points, certainty is beyond our reach. — Catherine Z Elgin
And scientists no longer expect any ultimate foundation or certainty for their theories. — bongo fury
What happens, described in a general way, is that we form habits which are based on beliefs held at a particular time (when we're very young, we don't even acknowledge those habit forming beliefs, they are the beliefs, our trainers, or even innate). As we develop a stronger and stronger rational capacity (the power to reason), we may produce beliefs which are inconsistent with our habitual actions which were formed by the prior beliefs. — Metaphysician Undercover
but the better to evaluate, test, and improve the theories.
Hence Pie's interest in "fixing the cogito", probably. — bongo fury
↪Janus
That he existed was something he found he couldn't doubt, so that was precisely the thing he did not need to prove. He built the world back up again on that foundation, with God and proofs. — Jamal
How do we identify the old beliefs from the new beliefs? Do they have some kind of labelling system? — Isaac
Why don't the new beliefs form habits (if the old ones did), and if they do how do we identify new-belief habits from old-belief habits?
Whence my belief that the space above Glen's head is empty? Have I habitually told people the space above their heads is empty?
How do we identify which belief (of the hundreds required to carry out even the smallest task) is the one which is causing the defunct habit? — Isaac
These questions are answered through introspection. — Metaphysician Undercover
These questions are answered throughintrospectioninvention. — Metaphysician Undercover
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