In this paper, I am going to explain the thoughts of myself, Clifford, James, and Hume about justified beliefs and how our views compare. More specifically, I will explain why I think we are sometimes justified in believing something we cannot prove, why I think we are justified in believing something as a matter of faith or ideology, how an evidentialist (Clifford) and a pragmatist (James) would respond to these same questions, how some kinds of beliefs that we cannot prove are more justified than others and what sort of justification they have, and how Hume and his idea of induction play into these matters of justified vs unjustified beliefs. Additionally, I will consider the strongest objections to our thoughts on these matters.
I have decided that we …show more content…
In order to explain why I think this, here is an example: I think the sun will rise tomorrow morning. This is something I cannot prove. However, I do think I am justified in believing it. It is a matter of fact that in the past, the sun has risen every morning. Anything that is matter of fact is a posteriori, which means that it is learned through experience. Simply, I have seen the sun rise every day so it is a matter of fact that it has risen every day. Because it has risen every other morning, I believe it will rise again tomorrow. A term created that helps explain this belief that the sun will rise tomorrow because it has every other day is the “Uniformity of Nature”. Uniformity of Nature says that “If in all my/our experience thus far all Fs are G, then the regularity that all Fs are G occurs generally (now and into the future)”. In terms of the sun rising, this would say: If in all my/our experience thus far the sun rises every morning, then the regularity that all the sun rises every morning occurs generally (now and into the future). This means that, generally speaking, nature in the past is the same as nature in the future, so, if the sun
I have decided that we …show more content…
In order to explain why I think this, here is an example: I think the sun will rise tomorrow morning. This is something I cannot prove. However, I do think I am justified in believing it. It is a matter of fact that in the past, the sun has risen every morning. Anything that is matter of fact is a posteriori, which means that it is learned through experience. Simply, I have seen the sun rise every day so it is a matter of fact that it has risen every day. Because it has risen every other morning, I believe it will rise again tomorrow. A term created that helps explain this belief that the sun will rise tomorrow because it has every other day is the “Uniformity of Nature”. Uniformity of Nature says that “If in all my/our experience thus far all Fs are G, then the regularity that all Fs are G occurs generally (now and into the future)”. In terms of the sun rising, this would say: If in all my/our experience thus far the sun rises every morning, then the regularity that all the sun rises every morning occurs generally (now and into the future). This means that, generally speaking, nature in the past is the same as nature in the future, so, if the sun