Belief, Evidence, and Reason

Part 1. Belief, Beliefs, and Believing

Our topic this month is the first of what I hope will be three sessions on what people believe, what evidence they accept for believing, and the principle of Reason itself, by which most people think they arrive at belief.

This is a very tall order for just three short topical meetings, but it is meant to help us focus on what is different about the way in which we view the world as opposed to those who view the world through the lenses of faith, magical thinking, and, let’s face it, hope.

I have put the Belief cart before the horses of evidence and reason, because I think we need to sort out the problems of just what we mean by the family of words derived from our English verb “to believe.” This is no small task in itself.

Some things to think about using some commonly heard uses of the words derived from “to believe”:

I believe in God.

I don’t believe in God.

I believe I will have a beer.

I believe I left my keys in the car.

I try not to have beliefs. In their place I have opinions as to the likelihood of the validity of propositions.

He has the courage of his beliefs (more commonly “convictions”).

Seeing is believing.

God said it. I believe it. That settles it.

I believe in democracy.

Many people share a belief in the validity of astrology.

The jury believed the testimony of the four eye witnesses.

I am sure you can think of many more. In fact, I believe you probably already have. As you can see from these few examples the “believe” family of words covers a large range of degrees of certainty and a similarly large range of sources and strengths of evidence. This topic is encompassed in the branch of philosophy known as “epistemology,” which has to do with what we know, and how we know it, to put it in seven very Germanic monosyllables.

I have chosen not to put up any readings with this announcement but may do so at the beginning of the week, but I encourage you to do your own research on these matters. I suggest you begin with online articles on the subjects of epistemology in particular the natures of belief, faith, and convictions. But I especially encourage you to think about how you use these words yourself. Do you ever say, "I believe in evolution?" If not, why not? Why don't you believe the things you don't believe?

I hope to see your skeptical self at the meeting!

Eric

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