Category: Belief
-
Michael Liccione on Private and Collective Judgment
Herewith, some comments on an excerpt from Michael Liccione, Faith, Private Judgment, Doubt, and Dissent. So understood, private judgment can yield at least a measure of certitude, but not in any fashion certainty. I agree that private judgment cannot deliver certainty, if objective certainty is in question. But I should think that the same is…
-
Truth, Fallibilism, Objectivism, and Dogmatism
It is important not to confuse the question of the fallibility of our cognitive faculties, including reason, with the question whether there is truth. Truth is one thing, fallibility another. A fallibilist need not be a truth-denier. One can be both a fallibilist and an upholder of truth. What's more, one ought to be both…
-
Some Questions About Animal Suffering and Religious Belief
This just in from Karl White: A couple of questions. 1. The gist of your posts seems to be that we can never know for sure that an evil is pointlessly evil, therefore no evil rules out definitively the potential existence of an omni-loving God. Yes, that's the gist of it, but strike…
-
More on Animal Suffering and the Problem of Evil with Responses to Caiati and Pollack
Vito Caiati, to whom I responded earlier, replies: In your excellent response to my email on animal suffering and theism, you write, “If one suffers from the problem of (natural) evil, there is little a philosopher qua philosopher can do. Pastoral care is not his forte. But if one can gain some intellectual light on…
-
A Mormon De-Conversion
I have a category called Conversions. De-conversions are equally interesting. Here Spencer Case tells his story. If memory and the engines of search serve, I have written only two extended entries on Mormonism, both of which mention our old friend Spencer. Religion and Anthropomorphism with an Oblique Reference to Mormonism On the Mormon Conception of…
-
Vows
Vows make for stability of life in a changeful world. But change is sometimes improvement, and this includes change in belief. The vows that stabilized can come to cramp and confine. Doubt sets in and commitment wanes. Fervent belief becomes lukewarm. A monk like Merton can come to wonder whether he has thrown his life…
-
Is it Wrong to Doubt When the Evidence is Sufficient?
Some say it is wrong to believe on insufficient evidence. Is it also wrong to doubt or even disbelieve when the evidence is sufficient?
-
Is She Believable?
It depends on what 'believable' means. Many find Christine Blasey Ford 'credible' or 'believable.' But there is a tendency among the commentariat to conflate her believability with the believability of the content of her allegation against Judge Kavanaugh. Those of us who want to think clearly about this SCOTUS confirmation business need to keep some…
-
On Loss of Faith in the Roman Catholic Church
Rod Dreher writes, At the risk of oversharing, the most painful thing about covering the scandal from 2002 until I left the Catholic Church in 2006 was losing my Catholic faith, which had been at the center of my life since my conversion in 1993. If I have the story right, Mr. Dreher has moved…
-
When Reasoned Faith No Longer Strikes One as Reasonable: What Then?
Thomas Doubting inquires, I’ve met and talked to a number of people who, while originally atheists, have found faith in God and become active Christians as result of their intellectual pursuit that led them to the conclusion that God is logically necessary. There is an ambiguity regarding 'logically necessary' that needs to be removed. Suppose…
-
Anti-Natalism and the Search for Truth
C. L. writes and I respond in blue: You never seem to allow comments on the posts I want to comment on, so I'm forced to add another email to your overwhelming pile. BV: Well, my pile is not that bad. This is one of the many benefits of relative obscurity. And I am happy…
-
Faith, Reason, and Edith Stein
Today, August 9th, is the feast day of St. Theresa Benedicta of the Cross in the Catholic liturgy. She is better known to philosophers as the Edith Stein (1891-1942), brilliant Jewish student of and assistant to Edmund Husserl, philosopher, Roman Catholic convert, Carmelite nun, victim of the Holocaust at Auschwitz, and saint of the Roman Catholic church.…
-
Belief Skepticism, Justification Skepticism, and the Big Questions
1) The characteristic attitude of the skeptic is not denial, but doubt. There are three main mental attitudes toward a proposition: affirm, deny, suspend. To doubt is neither to affirm nor to deny. It can therefore be assimilated to suspension. Thus a skeptic neither affirms nor denies; he suspends judgment, withholds assent, takes no stand.…