Category: Pragmatism
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Wrong to Believe on Insufficient Evidence? Contra Clifford
Is it wrong always and everywhere for anyone to believe anything on insufficient evidence? (W. K. Clifford) If so, the young would never be right to believe in the realization of their potentials. But they are right so to believe. If they didn't, none of them would ever have 'made it.' But many of us…
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The Pragmatic and the Evidential
Substack latest. On believing beyond the evidence. Immoral? Irrational?
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Memory: Content and Affect
The trick is to retain the content so that one can rehearse it if one wishes, but without re-enacting the affect, unless one wishes. Let me explain. Suppose one recalls a long-past insult to oneself, and feels anger in the present as a result. The anger is followed by regret at not having responded in…
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Acting As If
Definitive answers to the Big Questions are beyond our ken. No one knows whether the soul is immortal, for example, and no proof is available to us either way. There are arguments, and some are better than others. But there are no proofs. (If you have a proof, send it to me, and I will…
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Believing on Insufficient Evidence
The notion that we should always and everywhere apportion belief to evidence in such a way that we affirm only that for which we have sufficient evidence ignores the fact that belief for beings like us subserves action. If one acted only on those beliefs for which one had sufficient evidence one would not act as one…
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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.…
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On Writing Well: The Example of William James
This from a graduate student in philosophy: I have always been an admirer of your philosophical writing style–both in your published works and on your blog. Have you ever blogged about which writers and books have most influenced your philosophical writing style? Yes, I have some posts on or near this topic. What follows is…
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The Pragmatic and the Evidential: Is It Ever Rational to Believe Beyond the Evidence?
Is it ever rational to believe something for which one has insufficient evidence? If it is never rational to believe something for which one has insufficient evidence, then presumably it is also never rational to act upon such a belief. For example, if it irrational to believe in God and post-mortem survival, then presumably it…