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1、Dr. Ari Santas Notes onClifford and James on Religious BeliefI. William Clifford, “The Ethics of Belief”A. The Shipowner doubts the safety of his ship this makes him uncomfortable (the discomfort of doubt) so, he stifles the doubt by convincing himself that the ships okay he does this by rationalizi
2、ng by deceiving himself, he comes to sincerely believe that the ship is sound the ship goes downB. Guilty! despite the sincerity of his belief his belief was not a product of earnest investigation (how might it have been) he had no right to believe on the evidence before himC. Still Guilty even if t
3、he ship didnt go down! he still let the ship go without honestly inquiring into its safety the act was wrong regardless of the consequenceswhy? Consider selling prescription drugs without test them firstFlying an airliner without check all the mechanismsD. The Island a place where a different sort o
4、f religion is taughtno original sin, no eternal punishment a suspicion gets abroad that this religion has been taught by unscrupulous means (stealing children, etc.) a group of people form a society to “inform” the public they do this without any evidence because they want to believe such a religion
5、 could only be learned in this way a commission finally investigates and finds theres no evidence of these unscrupulous practicesE. Guilty the society is guilty of being untrustworthy and dishonorable despite the sincerity of belief they had no right to believe on such evidenceF. Still Guilty even i
6、f their suspicions turned out to be correct! the correctness was incidentalits still dishonorableG. More Examples? think of cases where someone holds a belief because they want to or its to their advantage-Rebuilding my Subaru engine-oh, the crankshaft probably doesnt need machining-Space Shuttle di
7、sastersH. Belief and Action should we be held morally accountable for our beliefs? yes, because one cannot separate belief from actionI. The Seeds of Action I believe it will rain todayhow might that affect my behavior? I believe you are from Students for Academic Freedomhow might that affect my beh
8、avior? a racial supremacist believes so and so belongs to an inferior race beliefs prompt us to actJ. No Belief Is Insignificant all of them imply action one way or another the “little ones” make room for bigger ones-if I believe women cant do math, I might then believe we shouldnt bother teach it i
9、n school, and vote on it, etc. they eventually swell up and surface in action-my vote will contribute to injusticeK. No Belief is Private our beliefs get transmitted to others one way or another we all set examples and encourage others to act as we donot just professors and poets do it anything we s
10、ay may be taken up and believed by another-the drunk in the alehouse-the housewife and her children-influencing the malleable (children, peers, underlings)L. The Sin Against Mankind so, when we rationalize our beliefs and stifle our doubts, we:-harm ourselves-we harm other directly involved-we harm
11、humanity even if we dont directly harm ourselves or others, we are harming mankind by putting a bad thread in the fabric of society-when we steal, the loss of property is not as bad as the contribution to thievery-when we are credulous we contribute to credulity, and make it easy to lie and cheat-a
12、dupe is the father of liars and cheats (M-in-law)M. Conclusion it is wrong always to believe on insufficient evidence it is our duty, therefore, to question all our beliefs this is admittedly a tough duty, but we owe it to mankind NO time to inquire? Too busy?Then you have no time to believe!Summary
13、 A. The ArgumentTwo examples shows obvious instances of wherebelieving with insufficient evidence is wrongBelief and Action are inseparable-strong beliefs bring action-no belief is insignificant-no belief is privateEvery Act/Belief Counts-stealing creates a den of thievesTo Believe On -credulity is
14、the father of dupes, liars andcheatsBelieving because its comfortable is believing oninsufficient evidencetestimony of others can only be trusted if:-the testifier is veracious-the testifier is knowledgeable-the testifier is of good judgmentB. The Implications everything you can believe (and do) has
15、 moral import (no distinctions between moral and non-moral) we must not act on any belief unless were certain that it is not mistaken can we do this? Do we want to?-consider the legal system-speedy trials?-burden of proof?Its WrongAlwaysInsufficient EvidenceII. William James, “The Will to Believe”A.
16、 Preliminary Remarks the context of this debate is whether we should believe in God Clifford says no, since we cannot have scientific evidence James says yes, since some beliefs are of a nature that we must believe them in the absence of evidence James view boils down to:Not every belief should be suspended until all the facts are inB. Some Definitions a hypothesis is anything proposed for belief a live hypo
