Belief Philosophers have postulated different approaches in their attempts to establish an understanding of Belief. For the purpose of Applied Philosophy the question to address are: • What Is It to Believe? • Can There Be Belief Without Language? (Return to Davidson) What Is It to Believe? Philosophers of mind generally use the term “belief” to refer to the attitude we have: • Whenever we take something to be the case or regard it as true. • To believe something, in this sense o Need not involve actively reflecting on it. Nor does the term “belief”, in standard philosophical usage imply: • Any uncertainty • Or any extended reflection about the matter in question o As it sometimes does in ordinary English usage. Two people independently witnessing the same incident are likely to offer different versions of the incident each believing to be the true version of the incident. • The belief based on what each saw o Interpreted by their: § Pre-existing beliefs § Cultural beliefs § Past personal experience § Any prejudices The current situation with Coronavirus demonstrates the lack of agreement amongst experts based on their expertise and beliefs: • Scientists publically disagree how to best manage the pandemic • Both scientists and health professionals disagree on the best options to protect the population with the limited vaccine available The public are further confused by the politicians claims that all their decision are based on the scientific evidence: • The problem for the public is: o Which scientific evidence to believe The belief are further complicated by: • False information on vaccines • Denial that there is a pandemic (based on conspiracies theories) • Religious and cultural beliefs that conflict with advice given on social behaviour to control the pandemic Can There Be Belief Without Language? The discussion on concepts did not establish that concepts require language as a prerequisite. It did establish that a concept of belief and the communication of the beliefs require language. Linguistic determinism and linguistic relativity Linguistic determinism is the doctrine that: • The language a person speaks causes how they conceptualize the world in a certain ways • Limits what they can think about by imposing boundaries on their conceptual system o Basil Bernstein introduced the construct of elaborated and restricted language codes (restricting communication between social groups) o Technical and professional language (restricting communication with groups not familiar with the languages) o People who speak very different languages are likely to conceptualize the world in correspondingly different ways. Linguistic relativity is the doctrine that: • The language one speaks influences how one thinks. Contemporary linguists and philosophers attribute beliefs with “de re” and “de dicto”. • “de re” attributed with transparency • “de dicto” attributed with opacity. The government briefing on the pandemic have demonstrated both “transparency” • Confirming the numbers of people: o Infected o In hospital o Fatalities o Recovered “Opacity” • Presented data in: o Graphic form that required experts to explain the relevance o Statistical analysis based on assumption that were not always clearly communicated Acceptance and Belief The acceptance or the rejection of the source of the knowledge, ideas, concepts, behaviour will influence the beliefs individual form without reflection. Some of the sources that influence un-reflected beliefs are: • Belief in authority • Belief in professionals • Belief from significant others • Belief in institutions like the (BBC) Plato’s allegory of the cave. The returner to the cave conforms to the belief of the cave duellers knowing they are incorrect. (accepts?) Bibliography Belief - The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy at: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/belief/ .