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}John, list
Perhaps I'm more cynical or sceptical or...but I have my doubts
about our daily opinions having been verified and tested.
After all - the belief that 'evil spirits' cause illness has been a
mainstay in many societies and ethnic groups for hundreds of years.
How can it be tested/ verified - and yet, it is maintained for
centuries. But they aren't true.
And we continue to believe in 'beliefs' - whether it be about our
environment, our nature as humans, the difference between 'nature'
and 'nurture' and so on. We hold to them with
tenacity/authority/emotion. That is, I don't see that our capacity to
think rationally and scientifically has increased; the majority of a
population do not do so but follow the non-scientific, non-rational
methods of Fixation of Belief. These other methods are easier to use.
So- we may, in large part, no longer believe in witches-on-the-hill,
but we do have other unverified, non-scientific and irrational
beliefs.
Edwina
On Mon 24/06/19 10:41 AM , John F Sowa s...@bestweb.net sent:
Edwina,
That's a good question:
> But how do we get around the fact that most of our beliefs are
> 'firmly held opinions' without any ability to be factually
verified.
But actually, the overwhelming number of opinions that guide our
daily lives have been tested and verified by constant repetition.
That's also true of the opinions of cows, chickens, cats, and dogs.
All of them learn that humans feed them and take care of them.
But one fateful day, some of them discover that their beliefs were
tragically mistaken.
> That is - as a species - are we doomed to live primarily within
> a fictional realm - with only the briefest diversions into the
> factual and truthful?
Peirce had a lot to say about those issues. His general conclusion
is that the overwhelming number of beliefs that guide our daily
lives
are true to the extent that they have been tested. But it's
important
to test the limits.
That's why he developed his methodeutic.
John
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