On the Nature of Belief E-mail: contact@onbelief.org The articles on this site are concerned with the nature of belief. A form of pragmatic relativism is adopted here, which stresses the importance of the methods by which we arrive at ideas rather than the discovery of truths or the reliance on absolutes. In simpler terms, since we cannot know in absolute terms we are constrained to investigate or experiment and compare the value of competing ideas that emerge as a result. The overall philosophical stance adopted here could be described as Observational and Experimental Materialism. This is because of the stress that is put on the utility of ideas, the primacy of observation, be it flawed or otherwise, and the treatment of human beliefs, decisions and the actions that flow from them as explorations (or experiments) in living be they derived from others or brought about by personal realisation. This site consists of commentaries on the nature of belief, how belief is shaped, the utility of belief, the concept of degrees or strength of belief, testing of beliefs, the consequences of uncertainty, science as a belief system, beliefs in the social domain and the possibility we can change our beliefs. (If you wish to print pages from this site in bigger text font it is suggested that you 'copy' and 'paste' them into a word processor.) Next > Index of Articles Preface A Sense of Perspective Definitions of Belief An Expansionist View of Belief   Probably True   Cognitive Illusion and Conditioned Probability Comments on 'Truth', Pragmatic Relativism, and Rejection of Cultural Truth 'Norms' The Utility of Partial Truth and Provisional Probability Tossing Coins and Solitary Events (Stable Probability vs. Uniqueness) Certainty and Uncertainty and Bayes Theorem The Severe Practical Effects of a Small Amount of Uncertainty Comments on Logic   Belief Testing   The Principles of Economy and Emergence The Value of Certainty, Testability, Verification and Falsification Is Coherence a Powerful Test of Ideas? The Unknown in Real and Philosophical Gambling Tests of Belief in Medicine The Dynamics of Belief in Medicine How to Interpret Tests of Beliefs     Science and Engineering   Can Science by Itself Provide Us with a Way to Live? The Value of Elaborating New Observational Descriptions of the World Pseudoscience Are there Laws of Biology? Evolution Requirement for a Philosophy and Science of Life in Matters of Belief Acquisition and Loss of Belief Belief Tests in Engineering   Comments on Religious Belief   Definitions of Faith Beyond a Critique of Religion The Miraculous, Re-interpretation and Escaping Literalism Internal Logic and Observation in Theology   The Social Domain   Respect and Disrespect   Changing Our Beliefs   Changing Our Beliefs A Manifesto for Change of Belief: 17 Propositions Important Caveats Concerning Personal Belief Revision: A Health Warning   References to Other Internet Sites   Useful Articles for a Natural Philosophy of Belief Relevant Quotations Links to Other Sites   Reader Responses and Subsequent Comments from the Author Response Page 1 Response Page 2 Response Page 3 Response Page 4 Response Page 5 Response Page 6 Response Page 7 Response Page 8 Response Page 9   Other Information About the Author   Automatic Translations of this site Français Español Deutsch Italiano Português Svenska traduction automatique traducción automática Automatische Übersetzung traduzione automatica tradução automática automatisk översättning norsk Dansk suomi Nederlands Polski česky automatisk oversettelse automatisk oversættelse automaattinen kääntäminen automatische vertaling tłumaczenia automatycznego automatický překlad Ελληνικά العربية 日本語 한국어 中文 (繁體) 中文 (简体) αυτόματη μετάφραση الترجمة الآلية 自動翻訳 자동 번역 自动翻译 自动翻译 On the Nature of Belief www.onbelief.org Scotland, 12th October 2007 and thereafter Copyright 2007 onwards contact@onbelief.org