...“It is fashionable to wax apocalyptic about the threat to humanity posed by the AIDS virus, “mad cow” disease, and many others, but I think a case can be made that faith is one of the world’s great evils, comparable to the smallpox virus but harder to eradicate. Faith, being belief that isn’t based on evidence, is the principle vice of religion.” - Richard Dawkins Many other philosophers and professionals of academia criticize religion for its reliance on faith. More specifically, they condemn the act of using faith to reason –rationalizing actions based on something other than evidence or proof. My argument does not necessarily confine itself to the focus frame of religion, but more generally, I argue that it is justified to form beliefs that are not grounded in sufficient evidence. I will use my initial motivation for this topic as an appropriate introduction for this argument. Throughout the semester I was genuinely intrigued by the atheistic arguments of astounding philosophers –most notable and influential on my own beliefs were the ideas of Hume, Dawkins, Clifford, and even Nietzsche. In light of this and the logically superior option to argue against the existence of God, … I did. In fact, I was four pages into what was shaping out to be the best paper I’ve written since my secondary school thesis on underwater basket weaving. At some point, however, I could not continue writing. I had no passion, desire, or any sense of purpose while trying to grind out...
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...Knowledge or Belief Joseph Bland American Intercontinental University Abstract What is knowledge and what is belief? Can the two topics mean the same? Knowledge is something that is believed to be true. Beliefs are truths that have no evidence to prove it is true. There are two kinds of truth empirical truth and necessary truth. These are statements that require a great deal of thought. Knowledge of Belief The person that I chose to write about who I truly believe loves me is my mother. I believe mothers are born with the distinct characteristic for love. Some may confuse the meaning of love with being a provider all of which falls under the characteristics of a mother’s love but different meaning. There is no concrete evidence that proves mothers are born to love but through experience and physical emotions I have come to believe it is true. I could begin the discussion by stating I have five other siblings but the topic of the discussion is me and my mother not my siblings. My mother has displayed her love for me in many ways. I grew up in an era when things weren’t as plentiful as they are today. The community and the environment that I was raised in wasn’t the friendliest or safest place to raise a child. There have been many times my mother has deprived herself of or went without things because she knew it was more important to take care of my needs first. There is no concrete evidence that would prove my mother loves me, only the actions and reaction she has...
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...We human beings are different from each other and so our beliefs. I have mine while you have yours and these beliefs of mine are the foundation of who I am. How do I view life? This is the question in my philosophy class that I need to answer. As I was thinking how to answer this, a cartoon character suddenly pop into my mind: JACK FROST. I remember a line from the movie Rise of the Guardians, Jack Frost said to the child, “I know your scared but don’t worry, were gonna have a little fun instead. That’s it! That’s my center. Fun!” I cannot forget what he said because it made me realize that each and everyone of us have our own center where we can pattern our life. At that moment I asked myself, what is my center? Then it struck me, Happiness! That is why I am touched with those lines because I can see myself. Life for me is happiness. Now that I have the answer to that question, how do I view life, my thoughts went 12 years ago. When I was a little girl there was one event where my mother and I went to a store. In that store I saw a doll house and I said to my mother “I want to buy that doll house it will make me happy.” My mother responded “We don’t have enough money to buy that”, and I said out of innocence “let’s just get it, anyway they won’t see us.” My mother just smile and said “Material things cannot make you happy especially if you acquire it by doing bad. They can give you pleasure but it won’t last.” From then on that statement becomes the pillar of my moral character...
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...ANT 102 Beng Belief System The Beng culture, fascinating and unique, is learned about in the books written by Alma Gottlieb. Beng people have a specific belief system that is exemplified in both Parallel Worlds and the video clips created for The Afterlife is Where We Came From. The adornment of jewelry for Beng babies is a practice that the people concern themselves with because of their belief that the jewelry will serve both medicinal and aesthetic purposes. The belief that everything happens for a reason is shown through that example along with the situation of the death of Félice in the memoir Parallel Worlds. In the video clip entitled “Jewelry,” a Beng mother is seen creating jewelry for a 4 day old baby girl, demonstrating the importance the people place on keeping their babies alive. Infant mortality in the Beng is high, thus leading the Beng to be extremely conscious of babies’ health. While some jewelry is just used to assure the child that they are cared for, there is also the belief that the jewelry will counteract death in the baby. To relate the belief system of all things occurring for a reason, compare the jewelry custom to the death of a young Beng boy, Félice. As Alma recalled a past conversation about the child’s inability to walk, she remembered the Beng’s belief that Félice was cursed because his parents had not waited to have sex until he learned to walk. This type of thinking is an example of how the people in that culture had an explanation behind...
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...KNOWLEDGE VS BELIEF Abstract: How do we decide on what to believe when someone tells you one thing but the evidence shows differently? When someone tells us they love us how do we really know what to believe? Are our thoughts based on what we know or what we choose to believe? We are taught that one of life’s greatest treasures is a freedom of knowing. Introduction Human knowledge has attained great heights and established a body of knowing facts for beyond the capacity of any person to master. Plato philosophy, stated in order to have knowledge, one must also have justified true belief (anayambaker.hubpages.com). One person I know and believe that loves me is my parents. In this paper, I will argue the difference in knowledge and belief. I will submit evidence and logic reason to support my arguments. After going thru the evidence, the reader will understand why I maintain my original cauterization of knowledge and belief. The theory of knowledge can guide us in deciding what to believe what to ignore, what to question, and what we don’t know (emotionalcompetency.com). I know without a doubt that my mother loves me. do know and believe my parents love me, as people we learn about physical objects empirically, by means of the senses: we look at them, taste them, listen to them, and so on. Only thing we don’t have real knowledge of the visible world jut mere opinion. Good allows us to understand, and Plato thinks we can’t know the good without wanting to do...
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...KNOWLEDGE VS BELIEF Kimberly Johnson Introduction to Philosophy Dr. Nwonye AIU 02/24/2013 Abstract: How do we decide on what to believe when someone tells you one thing but the evidence shows differently? When someone tells us they love us how do we really know what to believe? Are our thoughts based on what we know or what we choose to believe? We are taught that one of life’s greatest treasures is a freedom of knowing. Introduction Human knowledge has attained great heights and established a body of knowing facts for beyond the capacity of any person to master. Plato philosophy, stated in order to have knowledge, one must also have justified true belief (anayambaker.hubpages.com). One person I know and believe that loves me is my parents. In this paper, I will argue the difference in knowledge and belief. I will submit evidence and logic reason to support my arguments. After going thru the evidence, the reader will understand why I maintain my original cauterization of knowledge and belief. The theory of knowledge can guide us in deciding what to believe what to ignore, what to question, and what we don’t know (emotionalcompetency.com). I know without a doubt that my mother loves me. do know and believe my parents love me, as people we learn about physical objects empirically, by means of the senses: we look at them, taste them, listen to them, and so on. Only thing we don’t have real knowledge of the visible world jut mere opinion. Good allows us...
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...Knowledge and Justified Belief What is knowledge? This is the question we used to be sure of according to Plato’s theory of recollection, which tells that the knowledge is the justified belief; if this belief is true, then there is some fact make the proposition for this belief to be true; since the belief is justified by some evidence; therefore people comes up with the standard analysis of knowledge. This idea has been generally agreed till Edmund Gettier came up with the article questioning if knowledge is the justified true belief. Gettier provides two cases wherein intuitively the subject gains a justified true belief does not equal to knowledge. By contrast, Gettier’s arguments indicate the situation in which someone has a belief that is both true and well supported by evidence but fails to be knowledge. That is, it is sufficient and necessary to have belief, truth and justification to define knowledge as in classical theory, yet, the Gettier’s theory by questioning knowledge that justifiably believe one of the true proposition and dismiss the other is necessary and sufficient add-on to the classical theory to redefine knowledge. First of all, according to Plato’s theory of knowledge, that knowledge is justified true belief, or as Gettier concluded Plato’s classical theory of knowledge as: “ S knows that P if and only if P is true; S believes in P and S is justified in believing P” (Gettier 1). In the Meno, written by Plato, he believes that knowledge appears to...
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...Folk Beliefs: Its effect on adolescents Adsuara, Abigail Q. De La Salle University-Dasmarinas Abstract This paper shows the effects of folk beliefs to Filipino adolescents of the 21st century. The goal of the paper is to know the adolescents’ views and opinions about folk beliefs. The goal has been done by analyzing the information given by a certain number of respondents through an interview and online survey. Upon analyzing the information, the researcher concluded that most Filipino adolescents do not believe on folk beliefs but they have high respect on it because it is part of the Filipino culture. The paper highlights how folk beliefs can limit an adolescent’s view of reality to show the effects of it to human. Introduction Science and technology had already conquered this generation. Since the American liberation had conquered the Philippines many years ago, the Filipinos had started to drag themselves to a change that everyone thought will effaced the old traditions and customs. The Filipinos thought that the older generation’s ways can be absorbed by the technology that surrounds them. Tradition was being passed from one generation to the next. They practice it and unknowingly, they believe on it. Some of them are not aware that his nature was built around this tradition. Among the traditions of the Filipinos is the set of unwritten laws that their ancestors introduced thousands of years ago. Folk beliefs or superstitions are common notion or beliefs that...
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...Delusions Between Religion and Religious Beliefs Glenn Watkins Park University 3 December 2010 Abstract This paper discusses the results a study conducted by Mental, Health, Religion and Culture regarding a qualitative study examining the relationship between religious beliefs and delusions. The paper discusses the definition of delusions as well as religion and makes a stark comparison between the two. The paper includes many different religions and how each claims having a monopoly to salvation. The study included white males from seemingly the same background who were diagnosed as having symptoms of delusions ranging from ages 34 – 57. The paper also discusses several theories as discussed in class regarding thoughts from Erikson, Sullivan and Fromm. Finally, the paper concludes with a brief historical summary of why the author has contention with religion and religious beliefs. Key words: Delusional, fanaticisms, capricious, analogous, and tantamount. When one person suffers from delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from delusion it is called religion. - Robert M. Pirsig There is a close kinship to the relationship between religious beliefs and religious delusion. Merriam-Webster defines delusion as a persistent false psychotic belief regarding the self or persons or objects outside the self that is maintained despite indisputable evidence to the contrary; also: the abnormal state marked by such beliefs. Religion is defined as the service...
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...The human race tends to have a variety of beliefs throughout both concrete and abstract areas of knowledge, in this essay I will explore to what degree beliefs need evidence. Using examples, I will focus on the following knowledge issues; does our perception of evidence justify our beliefs? And are we able to have beliefs without evidence? Noticeably, all areas of knowledge are benefited by support from evidence. It is a question of how much evidence is needed for sufficient support. The title holds many concepts that can be explored in different ways. ‘Beliefs’ can be described as spontaneous occurrences of vivid ideas in the mind’ (Pojman). More abstract areas of knowledge such as art can adopt this meaning as they require less ‘evidence’ ;being subjective means that it does not necessarily require physical proof. ‘Beliefs can also be caused by experiencing things in constant conjunction to each other’ (Pojman). This depicts the fact that belief is more of a ‘reasoned process.’ More concrete areas of knowledge like Human and Natural sciences will usually follow this meaning. Science is a methodical process in which we experiment to test theories which constantly use evidence. ‘Evidence’ can be defined as the ‘availability of facts or information indicating whether a ‘belief’ or proposition is true or valid’. In this definition we already see that evidence demands physical proof. However, evidence is not limited to the physical state. For example, religion is individual and...
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...Title: The Effects of Pseudo-Science and Superstitious Beliefs in Student’s Life Table of Contents Appendix A • Acknowledgement Page 3 • Consent Form Page 4-5 Abstract Page 6 Background of Info Page 7 Introduction Page 8-9 Literature review Page 9-13 Methodology Page 13-14 Result Page 15-17 Discussion Page 18-19 Conclusion Page 20 References Page 21-23 Appendix B • Survey Questionnaires Page 1-4 • Figure Page 5-6 • Journals Page 7-17 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to take this golden opportunity to thank Mr. Goh Wai Meng, our ADP Co-Coordinator for allowing me and giving me the opportunity to take up Senior Project as a subject. I also like to thank Mr. JQ. Lim, for his kindness and long dedication in helping me in completing the project. Without his guidance and help, I would not be able to complete this subject successfully and comprehensively. Not forgetting our fellow classmates for in giving us the co-operations by giving me the necessary information which helps me in finishing my compilation on time. Without them, the class also would not be a fun, learning environment. Through this subject, I able to understand and...
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...Megan Morrone Sigmund Freud and William James on Religion Intro to Philosophy Final May 3, 2013 The Will to Believe, an essay by William James, is a defense of religious faith in the absence of convincing logical facts or scientific evidence. James focuses on reasoning and choice in reference to the basis of belief. To James, when reasoning it is a necessity to recognize other considerations apart from those in which the evidence points to. If truth is the primary focus of our beliefs, sometimes it may necessary to take the risk of believing without solid evidence. Moreover, he clarifies that, although we sometimes have a choice in what we believe, there are many beliefs that we cannot will. James views faith in God as falling short of knowledge because we, as humans do not naturally experience the supernatural. However, he also explains that, such faith is sensibly meaningful to many people, and it is reasonable to wonder how, and to what extent it can be justified. James believes that both logic and science have limits beyond which we can legitimately seek rationality. James discusses genuine choice and stresses the three criteria for genuine choice; the choice must be live, forced, and momentous. In other words, personally meaningful, mutually exclusive and presented with an option and/or answer, and must involve potentially important consequences. James defines religion broadly, as having simply two elements, the first being that the best things are eternal, and second...
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...Beliefs – Journal In this lesson we talked about a different way of knowing being beliefs. Are beliefs a way of knowing? Our teacher came into our classroom claiming that she was god. She then asked us to prove to her that what she’s saying isn’t true. Everything we would say that proves she is not god would only backfire with a counter claim making us realize that the only thing allowing us to believe what she is saying is false are our beliefs that god isn’t one of us humans down here on earth and he doesn’t show himself to us. A belief is trust, faith, or confidence in someone or something. An acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists. Paradigms are a group of beliefs they are a set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality for the community that shares them. Our beliefs affect our paradigms. For example a paradigm can be that all Arabs are terrorists this is a well known paradigm however I am an Arab that believes in peace and in god therefore my beliefs here are affecting the paradigm. Beliefs are a way of knowing to some extent, for example I believe in god because I believe in him I know that he exists none the less you can you know without believing? Yes you can, a good example on this is a nervous student who has a history exam was taught that the Battle of Hastings took place in 1066. In the exam this is a question that comes in the test and the student writes in the correct answer 1066 He...
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...under "Judgement" and this statement said "If society believes a behavior or a belief is morally wrong, it is a good idea to adopt and not challenge that belief." I strongly disagree with that. I truthfully believe that if a person has a strong belief on something, they should stay with it. No matter what it is. I don't think anyone should have to change their belief(s) just to fit in with society. It's your belief, therefore anyone else's opinion should be irrelevant. A lot of times with beliefs, you won't be alone with them. There will usually be someone right there with you who believes the same thing or something close enough to your belief. The biggest example that I can think of has to do with sexuality. A lot of people believe it is wrong. A lot more people argued for a long time about gay/bi/lesbian couples getting married. Eventually, thankfully, enough people stood up for themselves. Even more importantly; their beliefs. It's truly amazing to see how people standing up- and enough of them at that- get what they believe. Standing up for yourself is hard. These people went through a lot of work, shame and social problems getting to where they are today. So on June 26, American finally took the first step and made gay marriage legal. Many people probably hate that day, for a number of reasons. But that's okay, cause they aren't involved in it and it isn't tampering with their own personal beliefs. Overall, I do not believe we should conform to society's...
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...How do beliefs about the world and beliefs about what is valuable, influence the pursuit of knowledge A pursuit, by definition, requires a goal or answer to a question that the pursuer is attempting to reach. This end, towards which effort is directed, is based upon previous knowledge that says that it will be fruitful in some way. Any knowledge that is pursued is, logically, pursued for a reason. This reason must be that the knowledge could prove valuable in some way to the acquirer of the knowledge. What is believed to be valuable would thus greatly influence what knowledge is pursued. Since the beliefs about the world help define what is valuable, they too determine the type of knowledge that is searched for and acquired. This type of knowledge, that people think will be the most valuable to them, is the type of knowledge that is searched for and of course attained before the type of knowledge that is unexpected or thought unnecessary. To logically determine the extent to which the values and beliefs of humanity affect its pursuit of knowledge, all types of knowledge must be considered. Empirical knowledge significantly affects the further pursuit of knowledge; as the type of knowledge that is acquired through experiences, future pursuits of knowledge are frequently based on it. Rational knowledge is applicable because knowledge that is found through experimentation is looked for with a preconceived objective in mind. Metaphysical knowledge must be considered because beliefs...
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