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Summary Short Faith and Reason Notes
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Short and succinct notes on faith and reason- part of other aspects of human experience
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A deductive argument is ‘a valid argument constructed from a set of true premises’An inductive argument is when ‘the conclusion does not necessarily follow from the
premise’
A belief that a statement could be propositional, an objectively true statement or a fact, this
would be a rational belief.
An irrational belief is one when there is no evidence whatsoever, one which conflicts with or
contradicts other well-grounded beliefs, a falsity despite the evidence, etc.
For example, ‘I believe in Jesus’ usually means that the belief is more than merely that Jesus
was a historical figure. It implies trust in Jesus
Belief in conveys an attitude of commitment, trust or loyalty on the part of the
believer
It would however be irrational to trust that which one did not believe to exist –
therefore, often ‘Belief that’ and ‘Belief in’ statements are one and the same.
Fide quarens intellectum (“Faith seeking understanding”)- Anselm
The Relationship Between Faith and Reason
The Far Side of Reason: Faith does not surrender reason – it is a surrender or assent
when reason reaches its limits- Robert Barron
Belief is not so much a mental state but a disposition to respond in certain ways to particular
circumstances.
Wittgenstein: ‘I believe is not giving a report on my state of mind - it is a kind of
disposition of the believing person ….shown by his behaviour.’
Some things are easy to believe e.g. the King lives at Buckingham Palace
Some things are difficult to believe: this table is made up of atoms that have gaps between
them
Some things we can’t believe: the world is flat because the evidence overwhelmingly implies
otherwise
We usually believe because of the evidence
“It is wrong always, everywhere, and for everyone, to believe anything upon
insufficient evidence” -Clifford
Clifford believed this so strongly, he argued that if people accepted beliefs without evidence
they are more likely to believe wrong things and harm themselves.
“Every time we let ourselves believe for unworthy reasons, we weaken our powers of
self-control, of doubting, of judicially and fairly weighing evidence.” -Clifford
It is sometimes right to believe in some cases where there is a lack of evidence when we
face choices that are: “living, forced and momentous” Here we make decisions with our
“passional nature”. William James saw the religious hypothesis as precisely this.
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