Philosophy 2
Unit 0: An Introduction to Thinking Critically
Module 1 - Logic and Critical Thinking
Readings: Solomon and Higgins, "A Little Logic"; Solomon and Higgins, "Deductive Logic Valid Argument Forms"; Solomon and Higgins, "Common Informal Fallacies"
Unit 1: The Real and the Rational
Module 2 - Evidentialism
Reading: Clifford, "The Ethics of Belief'
Module 3 - Classical Theistic Arguments
Readings: Anselm, "The Ontological Argument"; Thomas Aquinas, "The Five Ways"; Rowe, "An Examination of the Cosmological Argument"; Paley, "The Watch and the Watchmaker"; Collins, "A Scientific Argument for the Existence of God"
Module 4 - Problem of Evil
Readings: Mackie, "Evil and Omnipotence"; Plantinga, "The Free Will Defense"; Hick, "Evil and Soul-Making"; Rowe, "The Inductive Argument from Evil Against the Existence of God"
Unit 2 - Experience and the Real
Module 5 - Pragmatism and Reformed Epistemology
Readings: Pascal, "The Wager''; James, "Will to Believe"; Bergmann, "Rational Religious Belief without Arguments"
Module 6 - Existentialism and Mysticism
Readings: Kierkegaard, "Truth is Subjectivity"; Selections of Mystical Experiences, James, "Mysticism"; Alston, "Perceiving God"
Unit 3 - Paths to the Real
Module 7 - Problem of Religious Diversity I
Readings: Dalai Lama, "Buddhism, Christianity, and the Prospects for World Religion"; Hick, "Religious Pluralism and Ultimate Reality"
Module 8 - Problem of Religious Diversity II
Readings: Plantinga, "A Defense of Religious Exclusivism"; Basinger, "Hick's Religious Pluralism and 'Reformed Epistemology'-A Middle Ground"
U.S. Copyright Act, 17 U.S.C. 107
Fair Use, Educational Purpose
498 PART VII• FAITH AND REASON
VII.A.2
The Ethics of Belief W. K. CLIFFORD
W. K. Clifford (1845-1879) was a British philosopher and mathematician. The selection that follows is perhaps his best known and most widely discussed philosophical essay. Clijford argues that there is an ethics to belief that makes it always wrong for anyone to believe anything on insufficient evidence. Pragmatic justifications are not justifications at all but counteifeits !if genuine justifications, which must always be based on evidence.
A shipowner was about to send to sea an emigrant ship. He knew that she was old, and not over-well built at the first; that she had seen many seas and climes, and often had needed repairs. Doubts had been suggested to him that possibly she was not seaworthy. These doubts preyed upon his mind and made him unhappy; he thought that perhaps he ought to have her thoroughly overhauled and refitted, even though this should put him to great expense. Before the ship sailed, however, he suc- ceeded in overcoming these melancholy reflec- tions. He said to himself that she had gone safely through so many voyages and weathered so many storms that it was idle to suppose she would not come safely home from this trip also. He would put his trust in Providence, which could hardly fail to protect all these unhappy families that were leaving their fatherland to seek for better times elsewhere. He would dismiss from his mind all ungenerous suspicions about the honesty of builders and contractors. In such ways he acquired a sincere and comfortable conviction that his vessel was thoroughly safe and seaworthy; he watched her departure with a light heart, and benevolent wishes for the success ofthe,exiles in their strange new home that was to be; and he got his insurance
Reprinted from W. K. Clifford, Lecmrers and R<s••rs (London: Ma~millan, 1879).
money when she went down in midocean and told no tales.
What shall we say of him? Surely this, that he was verily guilty of the death of those men. It is admitted that he did sincerely believe in the sound- ness of his ship; but the sincerity of his conviction can in no wise to help him, because he had no right to believe on such evidence as was before him. He had acquired his belief not by honestly earning it in patient investigation, but by stifling his doubts. And although in the end he may have felt so sure about it that he could not think otherwise, yet inasmuch as he had knowingly and willingly worked himself into that frame of mind, he must be held responsi- ble for it.
Let us alter the case a little, and suppose that the ship was not unsound after all; that she made her voyage safely, and many others after it. Wil1 that diminish the guilt of her owner? Not one jot. When an action is once done, it is right or wrong forever; no accidental failure of its good or evil fruits can possibly alter that. The man would not have been innocent, he would only have been not found out. The question of right or wrong has to do with the origin of his belief, not the matter of it; not what it was, but how he got it; not whether
it turned out to be true .or .false,• but whether· he had a right to believe on sQch evidence. as was before him.
There was'once an island in which some ofthe inhabitants professed a religion teaching neither the doctrine of original sin nor .that of eternal punish~ ment. ·A suspicion got abroad that thtr professors .of this. religion had made use of Qnfair means to get their doctrines taught to children, They were accused of wresting the laws .of their country in su.ch ·a way asto remove children fron:i the care of their iutural and legal: guardians; and even of steal~ ing ·them away and. keeping them concealed .from their friends and relations. A certain nuniber of men formed themselves into a society forthe purpose Of agita(ing. the public about this matter. They pub'"" lished grave accusations against individual citizens of the highest position and character, and did alL in their power to injure those citizetisdn the exercise of their professions~ So great Was: the· noise ·they made, that a Commission was appointed to investi- gate the facts; but after the Commission had care ... fully. inquired into all the .evidence that. could. be got, it . appeare.d • that :the.· accused were innocent. Not only had they been accused ·on insufficient evidence, but the :evidence of their :innocence was such .as the agitators might ·easily have obtained, .if they: had attempted a fait inquiry. After these dis.,. closures the inhabitants of· that country looked upon the members of. the agitating society, not only as persons whose judgment was to :be dis- trusted;.butalso·as no <longer to be counted honor- able men. .For although they had sincerely and conscientiously believed .. in the· charges they :had made, yet they had no right .·to .believe .on such evidence as was before them. Their sincere· convic- tions, instead of being honestly earned by patient inquiring; were stolen by listening to the voice· ·of prejudice and passion.
Let us vary this case also,. and suppose, other things remaining as before, thata stillmore accurate investigation proved the accused to have been really guilty; Would this make any difference in the guilt of the accusers? Clearly ·not; the . question. is .·not whether their beliefwas true or false, but whether they entertained it on wrong grounds. They·would no do.ubt say, "Now you see that we were right
W. K. CLIFf,O~D ~·TH~ ETHICSOF .. BEliH 499
after :all;:next tinle•perhaps you will believe us: And they, might be. believed, but they wouldmot thereby become. honorable .. men. !They:wouldnot be ,innocent, they would ohly: be. not :found out. Every.one .o£ them, if lie chose .to, examine himself in foro ionscietitiae,.would knowth,at l:le had acquired and nourished· a :belief, ·when .he<hadrno right to believe on :such evidence as was before him; and therein he· would know that he had •done a wrong thing. '.
It may be .saiq, however; that: in both of these supposed cases itis not the beliefwhidi i'sjudgedto be wrong; but the action following•:upon it, The shipowner might say, ''I am perfectly certain that my ship is sound, but still I feeUt my duty to have her examined, before trusting the lives .of so many people to her." And it might be said to the agitator, "However conviHcedyou were ofthejus- tice.ofyour cause and the truth of your convictions, you ought not to have. nude a public· attack upon aHy man's ,characte.r until. you had ·examihed. :the evidenae on. both ·sides .with ·the .utmost patience and care.~'
;Jn the .. first place; .let us·admit that, so far as it goes, this ·view of the, case is. right and necessary; right, because even when.a man~s.beliefis•so fixed that he•cannot think otherwise~. he:still has a choice in· regard. to the action• suggested by it; and so •can"' Hob escape the duty of investigating on the ground of the strength of his convictions; •and necessary, because those who ·are• not yet aapable of control~ ling their feelings. and thoughts . must have a plain rule dealing with overt acts.
But this being premised as necessary, it becomes cleat that it is not sufficient, ,and that our previous judghlent is required to supplement it, for it. is not possibbso to sever the belieffromthe action.:it sug- gests as to cond~rrin the <me without condemning the other.: No man holding a .strong•belief on one side of a question,• or even wishing to hold a belief on 'one. side, can investigate it with such.fumess.and completeness·as if he were :really in doubt and unbi- ased;.so that the existence ofa belief riot founded on fair •inquiry unfits· a man .for the performance of this necessary duty.
Nor is thattiulya beliefatall which.hasnotsome influence iupon the ·actions .. of him·. who holds it;
500 PART VII o FAITH AND REASON
He who"tnily believes.that·which promptsLhimto an action has looked upon the: action to .lust• after it; he has wmmitted it already in• his heart. IH belief is not.· realized immediately in openideeds; it is·stored tlp for'the guidance ofthe futureAt goes to make a part of that· aggregate ·of beliefS whichds the link between sensation ·and action at eveiy. moment of all our.Ii'ves, and which is so; organized ·and com-' pacted togetl:l:er tnat no part of it can be' isolated from tile rest, but every new addition modifies tile structure of the whole, No real belief, however trifling and fragmentary! it· 'may seem; is ever truly insignificant; ,it prepares us to receive more of itS like, confinns those which resembled it .before, and weakens others; and so gradually it lays a stealthy train in. our inmost thoughts, which may some .day explode into overt action, and leave its stamp :upon our :cllaracter forever.
. And no one man's: belief is in any case a private matter which concems himself alone~. :Our lives are guided by that general·conceptiontof the course of things which:has been. created by society for social purposes. Our words, our phrases, our fonns imd processes and ri1odes of thought are common prop- erty, fashioned and perfected from agerto-age; an heirloom whiCh\ every succeeding generation inher- its as a• pr:edous deposit and· a: sacred' trust to be handed on to the next one,. n:ot unchanged • but enlarged and: purifi:ed;'with some dear' marks ofits proper ·handiwork. :Into this,.· for good ar ill, 'is woven every' belief of every• man· who ·has speech of his fellows. 1An awful privilege, and an awful responsibility, that we should help to <Zreate the world in which posterity will live.
In the• two· supposed cases which have been considered, it has been judged wrong to believe on insufficient evidence, or to nourish belief by suppressing · doubts and avoiding investigation. The reason ofthis judgment is .not fur to seek: it is that in both these cases the belief held by one man .was of greaFimportailce to other 'men. But for.as much·aS no•beliefheld byone•man, however seemingly ·trivial the· belief, and howeveF obscure the believer,• is ever a<Ztually insignificant or without its effect on the fate of mankind, we have no choice but to extend our judgment' to all .ca:ses.of belief whatever. Belief;that sacred faculty which prompts
the decisions ofour will; and knits into harmonious working all the compacted energies of OU): being, is ours not for ourselves, but for humanity. It is rightly used. on truthn:vhidr have been established by long experience and waiting toil, and. which have stood in the fierce light of free and· fearless questioning. Then it -helps to hind men together, ')md to strengthen • and direct ·their common action. It is desecrated when given to unproved and unques:.: tioned ·statements; for the solace. and private· plea- sure of tile believer; to add -a tinsel splendor to the plain straight read of out lifer andi display a· bright mirage beyond it; or even· to drown the common sorrows oL our kind by a self-deception• which allows them not only to cast down, but also to degrade us. Whoso would deserve well of. his fel..:. lows in this matter will guard the purity of this belief with a very fanaticiSm ofjealous care, lest at any time it should- rest on an unworthy object, and catch a stain which can nevet be· wiped away.
It is· not only · the leader of men, statesman; philosopher or poet, that owes this bounden duty to mankind: Every rustic who delivers.in:tile village alehouse • his slow; infrequent sentences; tnay help to kill1 or keep alive the fatal superstitions which dog his race. Every hard:..worked wife of an artisan may transmit to her children beliefs which' shall knit society together, ar rend itinpieces. No simplicity of:rnirid, no' obscurity of- station, can escape the universal duty.: of questioning all that we believe.
It is true that this duty is a hard one; and the doubt which comes out of it'is often a very bitter thing, 'It leaves us bare and powerless where we thought that we were safe and strong, To know all· about anything is· to know how to deal with· it under all circumstances; We feel·much happier and more secure when- we ·think·we knaw'-precisely what to do, no matter 'what happens, than :when we have lost our way and do not know where to turn ... And if we have supposed· ourselves .. to know all.about anything, and: to be capable of doing what is' fit inregard:to<it, we naturally do notlike to find that. we are really. ignorant and; powerless~ that we have to begin .. again at the beginning, and try to leam what<the ;thing is and how it is to be dealt with-'-ifindeed. anything can be learned about it, W is the sense .of power attached to. a • sense of
~- '
' •. '
knowledge that makes men desirous of believing, and· afraid ofdoubting;
This sense of power is the highest'and best. Of pleasures when the belief on which it is founded is a tr:ue belief, and has been fairly earned. by investiga- tion, For then we may justly feel that itis common property, and holds good:Jor, others as wellas for ourselves. Then we may Jc,e glad, m~t that I ·have learned secrets by, which Lam, safer and stronger, but that we men have got mastery ovei:. more .of the world; and we shall be strong, not for ourselves, but in the name of Man and in his strength. But if the belief has been accepted on insufficient evidence, the pleasure is a stolen one. Not only does it deceive ourselves by giving us a sense of power which we do not really possess, but it is sinful, because it is stolen in defiance of our duty to mankind. That duty is to guard ourselves from such beliefs as from a pesti- lence, which may shortly master our own body and then spread to the rest of the town. What would be thought of one who, for the ·sake of a sweet fruit, should deliberately run the risk of bring- ing a plague upon his family and his neighbors?
And, as in other such cases, it is not the risk only which has to be considered; for a bad action is always bad at the time when it is done, no matter what happens afterwards. Every tin1e we let ourselves believe for unworthy reasons, we weaken our powers of self-control, of doubting, of judicially and fairly weighing evidence. We all suffer severely enough from the maintenance and support of false belie& and the fatally wrong actions which they lead to, and the evil born when one such belief is enter- tained is great and wide. But a greater and wider evil arises when the credulous character is maintained and supported, when a habit of believing for unwor- thy reasons is fostered and made permanent. If I steal money from any person, there may be no harm done by the mere transfer of possession; he may not feel the loss, or it may prevent him from using the money badly. But I cannot help doing this great wrong towards Man, that I make myself dishonest. What hurts society is not that it should lose its prop- erty, but that it should become a den of thieves; for then it must cease to be society. This is why we ought not to do evil that good may com~;Jor at
W. K. CLIFFO.RD •·THE ETHI.CSOFcBEl"IH 501
any ·this great :evil' has i.:ome, that we :have done evil and are made wicked thereby.lnJike map~ ner, i£ L)et,myself. believe anything bn. insufficient evidence;·there ma)l be no great harm dqne.by.the mere belief;• it maybe: true after all, or. I. may.never have occasion· to exhibit i~.in outward acts. ;BuLl cannot help doing, this great wrong toward Mah; that I make myself credulous, The danger to society is• not merely that it should believe·wrongthings, though that is • great enough; but that it .should become credulous, and lose the habit of testing things and inquiring into them; for then it must sink back into savagery.
The harm which is done by credulity in a man is not confined to the fostering of a credulous character in others, and consequent support of false belie&. Habitual want of care about what I believe leads to habitual want of care in others about the truth of what is told to me. Men speak the truth to one another when each reveres the truth in his own mind and in the other's mind; but how shall my friend revere the truth in my mind when I myself am care- less about it, when I believe things because I want to believe them, and because they are comforting and pleasant? Will he not learn to cry, "Peace," to me, when there is no peace? By such a course I shall sur- round myself with a thick atmosphere of falsehood and fraud, and in that must live. It may matter little to me, in my closed castle of sweet illusions and darling lies; but it matters much to Man that I have made my neighbors ready to deceive. The credulous man is father to the liar and the cheat; he lives in the bosom of this his family, and it is no marvel if he should become even as they are. So closely are our duties knit together, that whoso shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.
To sum up: it is wrong always, everywhere and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence.
If a man, holding a belief which he was taught in childhood or persuaded of afterWards, keeps down and pushes away any doubts which arise about it in his mind, purposely avoids the reading of books and the company of men that call in question or discuss it, and regards as impious those qu~stions. which .car1not easily .be asked ~itf10ut
502 PARFVII ·~f'AITHAND REASON
disturbing it-i-:-the life .of; that man .is one long sin against mankind.
If this judgment seems. harsh when· applied. to thos~' simple soulS who have 'never known better, who· have been brought up from the,cradfe ·with a horror ofdoubt;'and taught thattheir eternal welfu-e dependsonwhatthey believe;then itleads'tothe very serious questipn; Who hath made Israel tO' sin? ..
Ihquiryinto the evidence of adoctrineis not to be made once for all; and then· taken as finally
settled.k ismeverlawfulto stifle a dotibti for either it can be honestly answered by means ofthe iiiquiry already made, or else. it proves that• the inqurry was not complete'
"But,';'says one, 1'lam a·busy· rnan; ;[ have•no time' for the long courserof s~udy which would; be necessary to make me in any degree· a competent judge of certain que~tions,cor even able to•under;.. standthe nature of the argtiments.",Thenhe should have no time to.believe:.:.