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Say I have no concrete evidence neither for or against God, but I believe that God exists. Is this rational of me to believe?
No it is not. It is irrational. If it were anything else besides religion, any mentally healthy person would call it delusional, even a mental illness itself.
No it is not. It is irrational. If it were anything else besides religion, any mentally healthy person would call it delusional, even a mental illness itself.
Well, I have no evidence for or against life on other planets, but I believe that extraterrestrial life exists. I suppose that's irrational, but I don't think it's a sign of mental illness.
Well, I have no evidence for or against life on other planets, but I believe that extraterrestrial life exists. I suppose that's irrational, but I don't think it's a sign of mental illness.
"Believing" is essentially accepting as fact something for which there is no evidence. I believe in nothing. Belief is a weakness. Everything is a probability. Anything is possible that hasn't been proven impossible.
Often (almost without exception) belief is god is caused by one of two things: 1) Either "programming" (brainwashing) by parents/community/culture OR some sort of "born again" experience which people who have "hit bottom" (prison, depression, alcoholism, drugs, abuse, violence, etc) go through as a psychological survival mechanism alternative to suicide.
You "believe" there is extra terrestrial life? Well, I don't believe it. I "think" there is a good possibility it is out there based on my limited knowledge of the practically infinite number of bodies of mass in the universe (whatever "universe" means).
If you believe in nothing then you know nothing, because knowledge is nothing but a Justified True Belief. We must have beliefs, but whether they're justified, and what counts as justified, are other questions. If you believe in something that has no evidence for it, I suppose it cannot be justified, and I suppose that's irrational, but I don't think it's a crazy choice to make, it's just a leap of faith. Just like I could believe that a certain stock will go up and I invest in it, although I have no evidence either way that it will go up.
Last edited by Cleverfield; 04-18-2013 at 12:10 PM..
If you believe in nothing than you know nothing, I disagree
We must have beliefs, No we don't
Just like I could believe that a certain stock will go up and I invest in it, although I have no evidence either way that it will go up. I assign a probability to the stock going up that justifies the investment.
Say I have no concrete evidence neither for or against God, but I believe that God exists. Is this rational of me to believe?
This is almost the definition of Agnosticism.
I personally don't have (and don't need to have any evidence that "God" exists) but I may believe that something exists; greater than us. A power, force, system, laws, etc... You can either call that God or not.
The Agnostic believes that something like this is beyond the realm of human understanding. So a belief or disbelief is proportionate only to the weight we prescribe to it.
Beliefs are not irrational, only the premises for those beliefs. My moral code isn't solidified by my "belief" in a higher power; only in my humanistic principles.
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Knowledge relies on belief and is one of the core tenets of Epistemology, if not the core tenet.
You believe nothing? So you don't believe that you exist? You don't believe that the physical world exists?
That's correct. I don't believe it. I know I exist and I know the physical world exists. I am almost certain god doesn't exist. I think extraterrestial life probably exists. I think the Lakers will lose to the Spurs. I will probably be alive at the end of the day.
See, I didn't need to use the word "believe" to express what either is or probably is. Belief is unnecessary.
Also, notice politicians and salesmen start sentences with "I believe..." as a way of non committing to whatever they're saying.
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Is it ever rational to believe something you have no evidence for?
