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A set theory analysis of belief, knowledge and reality. BELIEF. Belief. Acceptance of a proposition as true Not subject to will Justification may be flawed Degrees of certainty “Believe in” vs. “Believe that”
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A set theory analysis of belief, knowledge and reality BELIEF
Belief • Acceptance of a proposition as true • Not subject to will • Justification may be flawed • Degrees of certainty • “Believe in” vs. “Believe that” • “Believe in” is shorthand, imprecise speech (implicature) for a more complex “Believe that”
Knowledge • Belief to a high degree of certainty • Absolute certainty is a generally useless concept • Subjective and vague delineation between believe and know • Justified True Belief (JTB) is flawed • Knowledge must be a subset of belief
Real • Proposition is actually true • Verification • Manifestation • Reality thought experiments • Matrix, Brain-in-a-vat, New Evil Demon • Forced to deal with this reality until proven otherwise • Shared perception
Logical “A” and “⌐A” ⌐A A
“X exists” X does not exist X exists
“X committed crime” X did not commit X committed
What does “⌐A” include? ⌐A Z R A E
What does “⌐A” include? ⌐Alphabet Alphabet R A Z E
Believe vs. Real • Belief has no bearing on “real” status • Real value has 2 possibilities • Belief can reject both (noncommittal) • Default position expressed in terms of “A” and not “⌐A” • “Believe” is the proposition • Believe guilty proposition has two positions • Believe not guilty proposition also has two
Believe Guilty? Believe Not Guilty Believe Guilty Believe Innocent
Knowledge as a subset of Belief • Degree of certainty • Subjective, yet consensus is required for shared understanding • Still qualifies as “Belief”
Knowledge as a subset of Belief Believe Know
Agnosticism and knowledge • Rejection of “gnosticism” • Rejection of spiritual/mystical knowledge • General rejection of knowledge • Seems dependent on absolute certainty • Unknowable • Unfounded assertion • Currently unknown • Still dependent on absolute certainty or a degree of certainty that isn’t consistent with usage of “knowledge”
Graphic Agnosticism Agnostic (knowledge) Gnostic
Agnosticism as non-belief • Rejects both belief position • Appears as “middle ground” • Label is misused, but accepted in the colloquial sense • What question is answered by the middle ground?
Agnosticism as non-belief Agnostic (Belief)
Not guilty and Not innocent? Guilty Innocent
Why does belief matter? • Beliefs inform actions • Beliefs inform other beliefs • Worldview understanding is shaped based on what we already accept and understand
What do I believe? • Common reality • A matter of practicality • Science, evidence and reason as a path to understanding • Decision-making skills based on reality • Exploration of possibilities leads to understanding of plausibility • Nothing is sacred • Some ideas are ridiculous • Beliefs matter