to have to abandon it. There may be at some level a refusal to be aware of my belief. Does that happen? Why would I refuse to believe something that I do not know is false?
An interesting footnote can be added to these remarks. Some propositions are not compatible with explicit awareness, and turn out to be in some cases rather amusing. For example, if I said, ‘I believe that I have forgotten that once I lived in Nashville’ you would probably laugh. That ‘claim’ involves a contradiction, as the following one does not; ‘I believe that I have forgotten where I put my purse’. You will easily discern the difference between the two!
1 Accepting, Doubting And Abandoning A BeliefSometimes we consider a proposition but do not yet believe or disbelieve it. When does entertaining and examining a proposition become believing it? Is there such a thing as half-belief? Consider the following as possible stages:Being aware that there is a proposition to considerEntertaining the propositionGiving myself reasons for thinking it may be reasonable to believe itBeing disposed to assent to itGiving my assent to it i.e. believing it.A note needs to be added. For the fact is that we sometimes find ourselves believing and are not aware that any process has taken place. The child can hardly help believing in Santa Claus. She just does. Sometimes we do not have to ‘make up our minds’. They have already been made up for us. Once we are aware that we have not really done so before, we can as thinking beings reflect and consider those unexamined beliefs responsibly.b [= a in reverse] We can readily find examples of the processes of coming to accept a belief, and also of coming to abandon a belief. When does questioning and doubting a belief become abandoning it? The process is something like the following:Ask what the belief meansWork out its implicationsConsider the evidence for and against itAsk further about its rationality, e.g. Is it consistent, illuminating?Compare it with alternativesGive myself reasons for calling it into questionDoubt itRevise itAbandon itReplace itIf I do not understand, at least to some extent, what I say I believe, my profession of belief may well be an empty one, a kind of front with little or nothing behind it, something akin to a child holding up a banner, not understanding what is written on it. If, for example, I assert that Scripture is inerrant, I may never have asked some of the questions involved in the preceding paragraph. But I consider some of the implications of the belief as I ask, Can I really believe the Hebrew text when it says that an ass can speak because impeded by an angel, that the word of a prophet can cause an axe to float, that a captain can win a battle after he has given the sun a command to stand still?To examine other scriptural, Christian claims you will have to ask yourself rather sophisticated questions, and find reasonable answers to them. Some of us write books to help you in the process!You realise there is a distinction between believing and knowing. You have always been certain about your beliefs. But you may realise that believing and being certain is not the same as knowing. You may nevertheless hold firm to your beliefs But then you must admit you cannot be arrogant about them, cannot treat them as if there were no questions to be asked about them. Self-assurance and certainty about belief does not mean knowledge. A certain humility is always appropriate in holding and expressing one’s beliefs.About doubt. At this stage, the people who think they know every answer, or worse still, every question, are the ones who may be able to help us the least. People who have gone through an experience similar to ours a long time ago, and who have now found working answers to their questions, may have forgotten how hard-won their conclusions and attitudes were. It’s easy once you’ve found a working answer to forget the process of struggle that led up to it. It is easy then to be unsympathetic.
Those who have not gone through what we go through in this period simply live in a different world from us, and speak to us in a language which does not connect. We hear the words and see the concern. We know their affection and appreciate it. Yet sometimes the very finality and placidity with which we are told disarms us. It may even –– if we are deeply troubled by such dogmatism –– lead us to reject not only the unsatisfactory answer but also the very quest in which we are participating. This is a gesture of despair, but quite an understandable one.
For Further Reading
D. J. O’Connor and Brian Carr, Introduction to the Theory of Knowledge, Brighton: The Harvester Press, 1982.
Phillips Griffiths (editor), Knowledge and Belief, London: Oxford University Press, 1967.
Elizabeth Maclaren, The Nature of Belief, London: Sheldon Press, 1976.
Belief and Believing: Work Sheet
1. There have been several questions inserted into the text of this chapter. Go back and give your answers to them.
2. Is there a basic meaning for the term ‘belief’? Write a paragraph explaining what you take ‘belief’ to mean. Give examples.
3. ‘I wish I could believe that!’ Is there any possibility that you might come to believe what you wish to believe?
4. Think of something you wish your friend would believe. State it explicitly. What might you do to help her believe it?
5. How does one establish the reliability of testimony? Think of a witness in a law court, and also of how to assess historical witness, for example the trustworthiness of written materials.
6. Must decision always precede belief? If not, what then? What would make you change your belief? Find a worthy example, say –– the last time you made such a change.
7. What makes the difference between a justified and an unjustified belief? Give an example of each.
8. How does it happen that you change your belief?
9. There are many different ideas about God. Perhaps you do not believe in the God I do not believe in. Since there are many ideas of God, does the idea you have of God make the difference to whether you believe or not?
10. Should we distinguish between superficial and radical doubt?
1 Does faith in God justify belief in the authority of Scripture? What does belief in the authority of Scripture entail? Questions arise that demand definition of the understanding of God, of the meaning of faith and of the coming into existence of the many writings of scripture, historical as well as theological issues are inevitably involved. Give a truncated answer to these questions and the result will be an inadequate understanding. For a careful treatment of these issues see Edward W. H. Vick, From Inspiration to Understanding.
2 Cf. Robert Audi, Epistemology, pp. 136-138.
3 EPISTEMOLOGY AND
RELIGIOUS BELIEF
We all profess many and varied beliefs. For the most part we consider our beliefs justified. To go beyond justified belief to assert knowledge is to make a stronger claim. It is a step to a new dimension. We discuss the distinction between belief and knowledge, and the possible relation between them. What is it that provides a justification for what we believe? For sometimes we believe what is not true. One can justifiably believe what is false. One can also believe what is true without being justified in believing it, a condition to be avoided. We discuss the relation between Justification, Knowledge and Truth.
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