Belief and decision

Originally posted by bbarr
Really? I think the pragmatic account of theistic belief is phenomenologically inaccurate for the vast majority of theists. From a young age people get trained up into theism by their parents, peers, teachers, etc. This worldview is more than simply a set of believed propositions, it is also (and more fundamentally) a host of integrated dispositions, with c ...[text shortened]... who sees into our hearts and is prepared to reward or punish us for what he finds therein?

That 's a very good post. You and vistesd are right that my earlier post was too cynical. I think I largely attribute more to pragmatism than I should.

Originally posted by LemonJello
That 's a very good post. You and vistesd are right that my earlier post was too cynical. I think I largely attribute more to pragmatism than I should.

As you know, I have problems with the translation of pisteo as “believe”—although original it might have been a perfectly acceptable, if somewhat poetic, rendering.

Believe is etymologically related to love, and originally meant something like to “hold dear.” This idea is still seen in dictionary definitions, but seems more commonly to refer to assent to a proposition or truth-claim, or an opinion, or a supposition, etc.

Thus far, I am thinking of two areas that may have some pragmatic validation—

(1) What I will call therapeia. I am thinking in terms such as:

(a) the decision to place confidence in a “higher power” in 12-step systems, such as AA; this need not be supernaturally theistic, but generally seems to be.

(b) something along the lines of Stephen Batchelor’s Buddhism Without Beliefs, where one commits oneself to a therapeutic practice (the 8-fold path), and the “truth” of that path is really (gain) in its efficacy.

Both of these seem to involve some kind of decision to “believe,” pending testing. The question is whether, given that the efficacy can be explained by other factors, whether that invalidates somehow the path chosen by the individual—or whether such an individual cannot simply (validly) say, “This works for me, and so is the path that I will continue to ‘hold dear’.”

(c) something along the lines of an athlete being taught (and sometimes using techniques such as meditation to achieve) that an uncertain and difficult shot (in golf, say) has a better chance of succeeding if one plays with confidence and assurance.

(2) The aesthetic value of religious expression in living a rich and flourishing life—but here, once again, I have “weaseled” a bit by switching to that word “expression” from “belief.”

Now, as you know, I find the non-dualistic worldview (and religious expressions of that) to be far more reasonable than dualistic supernatural theism. But within that framework, my choice of expressions is largely aesthetic.