Banno

Cool. No argument from me then.

A tempting position. A question, though - is being useful the very same as being true? I don't think it is. What's your opinion?

I remember that discussion! Glad you found it useful. If I recall correctly the point was that potential energy is no more than a convenient way to ba...

Yep. A belief must be statable, if not stated. That's the question: is it legitimate to cal something a belief if it is caused - if there is no choice...

The notion of a view from nowhere. What about the view from anywhere? Can't there be propositions that are true regardless of where you stand?

I would treat this question in the same way as any requests for definitions - as a discussion of how we use the words involved; this is as opposed to ...

Well, if any belief can be parsed in the form B(a,p) where p is a proposition, then yes, our beliefs are all of them statable. All that is being said ...

While I have sympathy for this feeling, I'm not very keen on this wording. After all, some of our beliefs are true.

Indeed, this seems to be so. I take this as being pretty much the same as that the limits of our language are the limits of our world. But note that i...

Indeed, our dealings with immigrants have been appalling. But it does appear that Australians are more willing than Yanks to share their taxes with ea...

And what do you think might be the answer? And for me. See the OP.

But I got there longest.

Like this? http://78.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_kyour9E4ow1qb9yj1o1_500.jpg

Ah. The sort of uncertainty that is confined to philosophers.

is such faux-doubt reason enough not to be certain?

Depends on whether you are a monarchist or a Marxist peasant.

Or, if you prefer:

Obviously, by some watery tart throwing a sword at you.

@"Sam26" hasn't participated in this thread, which is a pity, since in many ways it is a response to his suggestion that our certainties - what he cal...

So we have a spectrum of belief, from the dubious through the unsettled to the certain.

And you know the difference between dreaming and wakefulness. So it would be odd to allow your dreams to instil doubt.

So is the distinction between instinct and belief that one is a more of less set pattern of behaviour while the other involves some sort of choice?

I hope we do not need to go that far.

There are four possibilities: B(p) ~B(p) B(~p) ~B(~p) The first two contradict each other, as do the last two. The first and the third contradict each...

Hm. Verging on certainty. I am pleased. :wink:

Ok; not where I was heading. I agree that animal behaviour might be explained without mentioning belief. I made the point that belief implies a choice...

Every time? What we can't sensibly do is to say that we believe something that is not true. What do you mean by "fallibilistic knowledge'? Falsifiable...

As I said, the States are fucked. Yes, the buy back was compulsory; yes, people went to gaol rather than hand back their guns There are also plenty of...

I don't. Not sure why you think I did.

But it is not the whole of knowledge, nor of belief.

Cheers to that!

The States really is fucked up.

The most horrid part of this is that there is an NRA TV.

Not sure what you are suggesting here. Are you juxtaposing these two? My own view is to reject knowledge as justified true belief, in favour of a diff...

Interesting. There are apparently two opposing views in the literature at present. The first has it that belief is a part of the language of thought (...

So instinct is not a propositional attitude - not an attitude to a proposition. Good point. That is, there is a sense of choice in believing one thing...

I've considerable sympathy for that. Perhaps we only need express our belief when there is room for doubt. There's an aspect of belief that is post ho...

No, Apo - belief is a point of view.

A bunch of normative words Justification Rational Reasonable Warranted

Dunno. Never 'appened.

OK, I can go along with this. But let's keep it in mind ( :cool: ) by remembering that it is metaphorical nd checking to see if we have pushed the met...

SO we might distinguishing physical explanations, involving universal laws or whatever, from doxastic explanations in terms of beliefs and desires.

Perhaps. If asked to explain why you turned on the heater, it would be sufficient for you to say you were cold, together with the assumption that you ...

The question - and it's not a small one - is what one ought believe. An obvious answer is that one ought believe what is justified; but of course this...

Sure; I was just drawing attention to the structure of the explanation... Rover is hungry, Rover believes eating a bowl of slop will remove his hunger...

Consider this approach to explaining Rover's actions: Given that Rover is hungry, and that Rover believes eating a bowl of slop will remove his hunger...

OK. Granted.

If you like. It's just that the language/belief topic has been done to death elsewhere. It is clear that it rests not on any particular aspect of anim...

I hope not. People do lie.

So let's set that aside for a bit and work on what we can make sense of.