forum for week of 19 September

Ultimately, beliefs exist because they serve a purpose. Beliefs, especially those of moral nature, shape our values and determine how we see fit to conduct our behavior. Not only on the individual level but also in deciding how best to live among each other both within local societies and internationally. Shared beliefs are necessary when developing both domestic and foreign policy for organizing social infrastructure. Without such beliefs, we would live in a very anarchic world, which is quite simply, impractical.

We make a significant decision in choosing not to choose between beliefs based on how fragile the subjectivity of what constitutes "sufficient" evidence in order to establish "knowledge" is. As James noted in his essay, what one may consider to be insufficient grounds for belief when it comes to Christianity, many would maintain that the biblical evidence that they have is very strong and sufficient justification. Even in trying to decide upon what may classify a template for genuine knowledge, we must accept and believe in certain assumptions. For example one theory of knowledge is structured as : P must be true, S must believe that P, S must be justified in believing that P, and if it were not the case the P then S would not believe that P.

What I (believe) makes Clifford's statement seem so dramatic and perhaps even outlandish is his use of the word "always". It illustrates his point as radical and as we discussed in class (when radical terms are typically used) suggests irrational reasoning. In fact, I find it slightly ironic that he has such a strong belief about every single belief that itself cannot be objectively proven.

Indeed, humanity overall will have a challenging time trying to find true knowledge when it is as fearful as Clifford seems in being "duped". I think that the more reasonable way of going about things would be to keep a critical and questioning mind without going too far toward the opposite end of the spectrum - there should be a healthy balance between accepting certain beliefs and being autonomous in decision making regarding firstly your individual values but also what should be accepted as fact. Be conscious of the information you are being fed, be critical, be evaluative.