Philosophy and Fries: Belief

What do we know about belief? As it stands, we still have not gathered why exactly our brain takes some propositions as true, and others as false. Yet beliefs permeate every part of our lives, driving our actions -- and making belief an important topic of discussion.

One definition for belief we can use for our discussion is given by author Sam Harris in his 2004 book End of Faith. Harris states that "beliefs are attempts to represent states of the world." So, for instance, I would believe a proposition such as "the wine glass in front of me is empty" if I could indeed see the wine glass in front of me, and see that it is empty. My belief -- representing a state of the world that is an empty wine glass -- is thus a consequence of the way the world is. And as a result of this, I am now behaviorally susceptible to my belief about the amount of wine in my glass.

This, Harris argues, must leave a person open to new evidence. Wine being poured into the glass must change my belief about the amount of wine in that glass. If there was no way to change my belief about the amount of wine in the glass -- or, at least, put me into questioning mode -- Harris says this would prove that my belief was "not predicated upon ... taking any state of the world into account." In this instance, Harris writes that I "could not claim, therefore, to be representing the world at all."

Is Harris right? Are beliefs "attempts to represent states of the world"? Is there another, better definition? Do different beliefs hold different definitions? How do beliefs cause actions? Moreover, what is the definition of a good reason to form a belief? And where does knowledge -- defined by ancient Greeks as "justified true belief" -- come into play?

On Jan. 13, armed with evolutionary biologist and philosopher Massimo Pigliucci, we will discuss all of this, and more. This will be the second meeting of Philosophy and Fries, one event of many from CFI-Brooklyn.

The Park Plaza Restaurant is a Brooklyn Heights-located diner with lots of space, fairly priced food, and beer, wine and cocktails. To get there:

A or C to High Street
2 or 3 to Clark Street
4, 5, M or R to Court Street, Borough Hall