Philosophy, religion, faith \ stacker news ~FiresidePhilosophy

961 sats \ 16 comments \ @frostdragon 22 Mar FiresidePhilosophy

Truth is objective physical and meta physical reality. Logic is our attempt to navigate from truth to truth. Faith is what fills the gaps in our ability to use logic and reason.

I’m fascinated by what causes people to believe what they believe. My theory is that an individual's worldview is shaped by the ideas and concepts they are comfortable (or uncomfortable) being uncertain about.

Welcome to the territory for such discussions. All beliefs, philosophies, faiths, or alleged lack-there-of’s are welcome.   “The opposite of a simple truth is a falsity. But the opposite of a great truth is another great truth.” - Niels Bohr

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100 sats \ 1 reply \ @Coinsreporter 22 Mar

Great! Having graduated in Comparative Religion, I dearly missed this subject in our discussions here at SN. Thanks for bringing it to the table.

7 sats \ 0 replies \ @frostdragon OP 22 Mar

Heck yeah, I’d love to see a summary of what you learned, what your experience was like, why you went, and what your general worldview is

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @elendilthetall 22 Mar

Interesting, however there is an older definition of Faith that I'd like to put forth: it's the virtue by which the intellect gives assent to the truths revealed by God because we know He cannot deceive nor be deceived.

If we define Faith as being "whatever isn't logic or reason", indeed, I see no reason to believe in any particular religion, since Faith becomes a synonym for trust. And we may or may not trust person x, y or z based on an infinite number of reasons.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @frostdragon OP 22 Mar

Yeah my view isn't contradictory to that, and this idea of faith goes beyond belief in God. We establish truths in our mind with logic and reason, but we all have to admit that we don't have all the answers or the ability to reason perfectly. So faith is inevitable no matter what you believe.

Most people have faith in the general safety of airplanes. If someone were to ask "why do you think this is safe", most would be able to establish a few reasonable truths, maybe based in historical statistics or basic physics, and the rest is faith. Faith is like saying "I don't have all the answers, but I have enough logical reason to believe the answers exist".

21 sats \ 1 reply \ @DiedOnTitan 22 Mar

Faith is what fills the gaps in our ability to use logic and reason.

The mind is like an ovum and ideas are like sperm cells. Once an idea impregnates the mind, it shields itself from other competing ideas. This metaphor helps explain why people who accept religion as a child tend to reject other religions that they get exposed to later in life.

Faith not only fills the gaps, but once formed and set, tends to become firmly entrenched.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @frostdragon OP 22 Mar

I agree that people tend to shield themselves from opposing views, and perhaps faith plays some part in that, but I think what you're describing has more to do with Benford's Law of Controversy, which says "when we find ourselves with little actual data and understanding, we fill in the gaps with passion and emotion."

I think this has more to do with the human psychological condition, defense mechanisms, etc... I could be convinced that there's some interplay with faith, but I would argue that healthy faith removes the shield/defenses in a lot of ways, as it can allow us to be more comfortable with things that are uncertain.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @expatriotic 22 Mar

There is absolute truth, we just can't know it absolutely.

I.e., we're limited by our own cognitive imperfections and cultural worldview.

It's like the blind man that Jesus healed, the first attempted he saw people as trees walking. It wasn't until Jesus put his hands on his eyes a second time that he saw clearly.

Likewise we see the world dimly, but one day ours eyes will be opened. One can only hope they weren't too far off the mark.

0 sats \ 3 replies \ @PlebeiusG 22 Mar

faith?

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @frostdragon OP 22 Mar

I think he’s working on a false definition of faith, and to try to prove his point, he poses the challenge “try to use faith in a sentence where it can’t mean ‘pretending to know something you don’t know’ and can’t be substituted with the hope”.

Well, here’s a sentence: He had faith in the structural integrity of the airplane was based on rigorous safety inspections and engineering assessments.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @PlebeiusG 22 Mar

That's not faith.

based on rigorous safety inspections and engineering assessments

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @frostdragon OP 22 Mar

As someone who grew up with and around religion and has explored a wide variety of beliefs, I have never heard faith defined as “pretending to know what you don’t know” as the speaker does in the video you shared, and I’d argue that’s a straw man. If that were really the definition of faith, I'd agree with you.

I’d encourage you to give this definition a chance. My hunch is that anyone, regardless of their religion, would probably agree on this definition.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Satosora 22 Mar

I remember taking a religions study class that focused on christianity, islam, buddhism, and misc. I learned so much in that class, about culture and everything. I think everyone should get that kind of education so they become more understanding of each culture.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @frostdragon OP 22 Mar

I agree, I think people should be more curious about beliefs and philosophies they didn't become familiar with in early years, and make an attempt to find truth there, even if it's a small effort.

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @bubbajimm 22 Mar freebie

I don't believe this makes sense. Someone has to be right.