philosophy
Section 6.3
Faith and Meaning
Believing the Unbelievable
McGraw-Hill
*© 2013 McGraw-Hill Companies. All Rights Reserved.
*
The Leap of Faith
- “Faith,” by definition, is “belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence.”
- Kierkegaard argues that belief in the Christian God must be a matter of faith because the notion of an immortal being becoming mortal is absurd.
*
Kierkegaard on Belief
- Kierkegaard claims that you can make something objectively true by believing it passionately enough.
- Objection: This is self-contradictory—a proposition and its negation could be believed passionately by different people, but both propositions couldn’t be true.
*
Kierkegaard and Russell on Belief
- Kierkegaard: “Whoever is neither hot nor cold [who doesn’t believe passionately] is nauseating.”
- Russell: “There is something feeble, and a little contemptible, about a man who cannot face the perils of life without the help of comfortable myths.”
*
Evidentialism
- Only beliefs based on evidence can be justified.
- Some claim that you have a moral obligation to proportion your belief to the evidence.
*
Clifford and Huxley on Belief
- “It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone to believe anything on insufficient evidence.” –W. K. Clifford
- “It is wrong for a man to say that he is certain of the objective truth of any proposition unless he can produce evidence which logically justifies that certainty.” –T. H. Huxley
*
Thought Probe: Blanshard’s Beliefs
- Are Blanshard and Clifford correct in claiming that we have a duty to proportion our beliefs to the evidence?
- Can you think of a counterexample, a case where it would not be right to proportion your belief to the evidence?
- Should people who don’t proportion their belief to the evidence be ashamed of themselves? Why or why not?
*
James on the Will to Believe
- When a belief can be decided on intellectual grounds, it’s wrong to believe on faith.
- When a belief is a genuine option, and when believing it to be true can make it true, it’s permissible to believe on faith.
- For example: By having faith that someone likes you, they may come to like you.
*
Problems with the Will to Believe
- Beliefs don’t bring about changes in others, actions do.
- The knowledge that acting as if we like someone can help make them like us is based on evidence.
- Believing in God can’t help bring about the existence of God.
*
James on the Affirmations of Religion
- First: religion says that the best things are the eternal things. “Perfection is eternal.”
- Second: religion says that we are better off if we accept the first affirmation.
- James claims that accepting the first affirmation will help us have a more personal relationship to the universe.
*
Thought Probe: James and Pandeism
- Pandeism, like pantheism, claims that the universe is God.
- Unlike pantheism, however, it claims that the universe is a person.
- James claims that viewing the universe as a person would help give meaning to your life.
- Do you agree? Why or why not?
*
The Meaning of Life
- Some believe that our lives can be meaningful if and only if they are part of a divine plan.
*
Thought Experiment: God’s Plan
- Suppose that God created us to serve as food for some more advanced creatures.
- Would it make our lives meaningful to be eaten by those creatures?
*
Thought Probe: Meaning and Morality
- It’s wrong to use people merely as a means to an end because that violates their fundamental right to self-determination.
- If God created us for a purpose, it would seem that he is using us merely as a means to an end.
- Is it immoral for God to create people in order to achieve a particular purpose?
*
Existentialism
- According to Existentialism, “existence precedes essence.” Humans exist prior to and independently of any notion of who they are or what they should do.
- Humans define themselves and create their own meaning by making choices.
*
Sartre on the Human Condition
- Abandonment: no one can make our choices for us.
- Aguish: we have to choose.
- Despair: we have to live with the consequences of our choices.
*
Barnes on the Human Condition
- “No humanistic existentialist will allow that the only alternative is despair and irresponsibility.”
- “The individual life may have an intrinsic value…whether the universe knows what it’s doing or not.”
*
Thought Probe: Meaning and Purpose
- Some believe that their life can be meaningful only if they were created for a certain purpose.
- Others believe that meaning can only come from within, that it can’t be imposed from without.
- Which do you believe?
*
Religion Without God
- Those who have a religious orientation toward life share four characteristics:
- A sense of the numinous.
- Deep feelings of love, joy, and peace.
- A distaste of vanity and greed.
- A desire to help others.
- One need not believe in God to have these characteristics.
*