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A set theory analysis of belief, knowledge and reality
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Belief Acceptance of a proposition as true Not subject to will Justification may be flawed Degrees of certainty “Believe in” vs. “Believe that” “Believe in” is shorthand, imprecise speech (implicature) for a more complex “Believe that”
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Knowledge Belief to a high degree of certainty Absolute certainty is a generally useless concept Subjective and vague delineation between believe and know Justified True Belief (JTB) is flawed Knowledge must be a subset of belief
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Real Proposition is actually true Verification Manifestation Reality thought experiments Matrix, Brain-in-a-vat, New Evil Demon ○ Forced to deal with this reality until proven otherwise Shared perception
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Logical “A” and “⌐A” A ⌐A
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“X exists” X exists X does not exist
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“X committed crime” X committed X did not commit
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What does “⌐A” include? A ⌐A Z R E
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What does “⌐A” include? Alphabet ⌐Alphabet Z R E A
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Believe vs. Real Belief has no bearing on “real” status Real value has 2 possibilities Belief can reject both (noncommittal) Default position expressed in terms of “A” and not “⌐A” “Believe” is the proposition Believe guilty proposition has two positions Believe not guilty proposition also has two
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Believe Guilty? Believe Guilty Believe Not Guilty Believe Innocent
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Knowledge as a subset of Belief Degree of certainty Subjective, yet consensus is required for shared understanding Still qualifies as “Belief”
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Knowledge as a subset of Belief Believe Know
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Agnosticism and knowledge Rejection of “gnosticism” Rejection of spiritual/mystical knowledge General rejection of knowledge ○ Seems dependent on absolute certainty Unknowable ○ Unfounded assertion Currently unknown ○ Still dependent on absolute certainty or a degree of certainty that isn’t consistent with usage of “knowledge”
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Graphic Agnosticism Agnostic (knowledge) Gnostic
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Agnosticism as non-belief Rejects both belief position Appears as “middle ground” Label is misused, but accepted in the colloquial sense What question is answered by the middle ground?
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Agnosticism as non-belief Agnostic (Belief)
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Not guilty and Not innocent? GuiltyInnocent
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Why does belief matter? Beliefs inform actions Beliefs inform other beliefs Worldview understanding is shaped based on what we already accept and understand
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What do I believe? Common reality A matter of practicality Science, evidence and reason as a path to understanding Decision-making skills based on reality Exploration of possibilities leads to understanding of plausibility Nothing is sacred Some ideas are ridiculous Beliefs matter
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