U59-86-3207
PH100 A1
Final Paper
TF: I-Kai
Final Paper on Knowledge/Ethics
In Plato’s The Meno, Socrates successfully convinces two men of politics not only that they have no understanding of virtue, but also that no one does. This conversation leads us to be conscious of the fact that we are living in a state of uncertainty. It raises the question: what should we believe? We need to know whether it is enough for our beliefs to be true on face value, or whether we have to come to believe them for certain reasons. We need to know whether or not we have a choice in what we believe. Finally, we need to know if a person is entitled to believe what they want. William Clifford in his, The Ethics of Belief, argues that “It is wrong, always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.” I believe Clifford is correct in stating this because in order for something to be true it requires sufficient evidence. The presence of sufficient evidence entitles us to believe in whatever ideas our evidence supports. Thus it would be wrong to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.
Clifford opens up with an anecdote of a shipowner who was to send his ship across the sea. Doubts had been suggested that the ship might not be seaworthy. The owner removed all the doubts and acquired a sincere conviction that the ship would make it across the sea safely as it had many times in the past. Mid-way through the journey the ship sank and the shipowner collected his insurance money. Was the shipowner guilty? Clifford responds, “The question of right or wrong has to do with the origin of his belief, not the matter of it; not what it was, but how he got it; not whether it turned out to be true or false, but whether he had a right to believe on such evidence as was before him.” (p 1). Cliffordsays that it was wrong for the shipowner to