frank

You're taking an approach that could be called belief-holism. Perhaps all beliefs are interconnected and the foundation of a belief complex is instinc...

I'm thinking of words that can mean something similar to belief: faith, trust, confident, and expect. In each case we can add that P. Wouldn't we dist...

Both belief and instinct can serve as causes of action. I think humans eat due to instinct, not belief. But a human can assert the proposition that ea...

Rover is conscious. That doesn't mean he has truth-apt beliefs.

The explanation you seem to prefer tells us about final cause. We don't know in the case of a dog if she has any consciousness of purpose. She would h...

if it could be determined that the behavior is voluntary instead of reflexive, that would support the thesis that dogs have beliefs, but we would furt...

Why not: he was hungry. This activated instinctive behavior.

It is not clear that dogs have beliefs.

Good luck.

I would see if we could teach dogs to express themselves through language. Maybe start with tenseless language. If they master that, we would lean tow...

Did you not say we know for sure by listening to what people say? So you believe the answer will change depending on who you talk to.

It may be common among some and never said among others. Which group knows how the word should be used?

Humans are animals. Some animals have beliefs. Whether or not all animals do, how could we know for sure? Saliva and wagging tail does not confirm a r...

I can imagine being at Hastings in 1066. Some things I know because of books. Some things I know a priori.