Opening page…
Should you ever believe without evidence?
W. K. Clifford said it is always wrong to believe anything on insufficient evidence. William James answered that some choices can't wait for proof.
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A little context
You trust that the surgeon read your chart and that the person you married meant it. You haven't checked, and mostly you couldn't. A life run strictly on evidence would stall before breakfast, and yet you'd still call someone a fool for believing what they're told without asking how anyone knows.
Nearby questions
- If God is good, why do children suffer?A child suffers and dies, and nothing good comes of it that anyone can see. Believers have tried to answer this for as long as there has been belief.
- Would you want there to be an afterlife?Heaven, rebirth or nothing at all. Many people say yes at once, until they think about forever.
- What would it take for you to believe a miracle had happened?Hume asked which would be stranger: that nature's laws were broken, or that the witness was wrong. Decide what evidence could ever tip that balance.
- If you cannot know whether God exists, is it sensible to live as if God does?Pascal argued that the stakes make belief the better wager. The trouble is whether belief can be chosen for its payoff, and whether any god would want it chosen that way.
- Can you be good without God?In The Brothers Karamazov, Ivan's idea is that without God and immortality, everything is permitted. Plenty of people live decent lives without belief, and plenty of believers don't.
