A set theory analysis of belief, knowledge and reality
Belief
Acceptance of a proposition as trueNot subject to willJustification may be flawedDegrees of certainty
“Believe in” vs. “Believe that”“Believe in” is shorthand, imprecise speech
(implicature) for a more complex “Believe that”
Knowledge
Belief to a high degree of certaintyAbsolute certainty is a generally useless
conceptSubjective and vague delineation between
believe and knowJustified True Belief (JTB) is flawedKnowledge must be a subset of belief
Real
Proposition is actually trueVerificationManifestation
Reality thought experimentsMatrix, Brain-in-a-vat, New Evil Demon
○ Forced to deal with this reality until proven otherwise
Shared perception
Logical “A” and “⌐A”
A
⌐A
“X exists”
X exists
X does not exist
“X committed crime”
X committed
X did not commit
What does “⌐A” include?
A
⌐A Z
R
E
What does “⌐A” include?
Alphabet
⌐Alphabet
Z
R
E
A
Believe vs. Real
Belief has no bearing on “real” statusReal value has 2 possibilitiesBelief can reject both (noncommittal)Default position expressed in terms of “A”
and not “⌐A”
“Believe” is the propositionBelieve guilty proposition has two positionsBelieve not guilty proposition also has two
Believe Guilty?
Believe Guilty
Believe Not Guilty
Believe Innocent
Knowledge as a subset of Belief Degree of certainty
Subjective, yet consensus is required for shared understanding
Still qualifies as “Belief”
Knowledge as a subset of Belief
Believe
Know
Agnosticism and knowledge Rejection of “gnosticism”
Rejection of spiritual/mystical knowledgeGeneral rejection of knowledge
○ Seems dependent on absolute certaintyUnknowable
○ Unfounded assertionCurrently unknown
○ Still dependent on absolute certainty or a degree of certainty that isn’t consistent with usage of “knowledge”
Graphic Agnosticism
Agnostic (knowledge)
Gnostic
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?
Agnosticism as non-belief
Agnostic (Belief)
Not guilty and Not innocent?
Guilty Innocent
Why does belief matter?
Beliefs inform actions Beliefs inform other beliefs
Worldview understanding is shaped based on what we already accept and understand
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