John Searle - What is Belief?

Everyone has beliefs-some are simple and basic (e.g., my name, age), others complex and controversial (e.g., God? Soul? Politics? Morality?). But what is the concept of 'belief'? What does it take for some statement to be a 'belief'?
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[@millenialmusings8451]

"Everyone has their favorite philosopher" John Searle is quickly becoming my favorite philosopher

[@Alphardus]

He is certainly a great philosopher of the common sense version of philosophy, If you can even call it that. A lot of people will bring up his alleged sexual assault allegations, to slight him, but this doesn't take away from his philosophy. We are all human and fallible at the end of the day, regardless of what we have done and what we are accused of doing.

[@ThalesPo]

Allow me to say that this is the best channel on KZbin.

[@internetmail3888]

Thannos TV en channel is the most convincing argument for God I've seen. Dozens of people all describing an almost identical nde experience.

[@JAYDUBYAH29]

love john searle -and finally, loud enough audio levels on a CTT video! :) kudos...

[@3xxiled]

Love this! Searle in person is just as exciting to listen as reading his work is.

[@BradHolkesvig]

Belief occurs when you trust what you experience within your consciousness as being true. Anyone who shares their experiences with you has to be trusted by you to believe it's true. If you don't believe it's true, you will not believe those experiences someone else has.

[@RickDelmonico]

Thanks Robert.

[@woodstockjon420]

Love is all you need!

[@LawrenceKassab]

I have no belief system, I used to, when I was religious. Now I see the world as an ever evolving, ever changing and never static. I am always in a state of flux in terms of what I take as truth. I can only know so much at any given moment and i except that i dont have all the facts so how can i ever believe in anything ever.

[@millenialmusings8451]

Please lookup the definition of belief. Only clinically dead people are without beliefs. Every human being on this planet has a belief system.

[@alamiyodaniel992]

(Now I see the world as an ever evolving, ever changing and never static) That's a belief my dear boy.

[@eliy5550]

That was really fun to listen to

[@RealLordGaga]

Don't let them think for you. Think it out for yourselves!

[@willtowin9996]

amazing just amazing .

[@georgeschlaline6057]

I believe you're right

[@AskPolymathGeddy]

Belief is any position one holds as true, regardless of the work they have done to be certain of their conclusion. Hence all the implications of the word.

[@jaredprince4772]

That's what you believe about belief.

[@jaredprince4772]

+Ask Polymath Geddy+ Belief has multiple meanings as do many words. It is not unusual to conflate one meaning with another but it is unfortunate. Belief: 1) an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists. a)something one accepts as true or real; a firmly held opinion or conviction. b)a religious conviction. 2)trust, faith, or confidence in someone or something. 2 and 1a tend to be easily discarded beliefs with evidence that demonstrates they are unfounded or false. 1b is not so easily discarded but is often held as true even with compelling evidence to the contrary.

[@AbCDef-zs6uj]

I wonder whether Searle had made that last argument sometime in the past, or whether he just thought it up on the fly. His sharpness is simply incredible.

[@harryh628]

I'm not sure about it , but i do remember rupert sheldrake talking about the word intention actually comes from the Latin word for it .. Intentionare or something like that. Which mean something like reaching towards . Which is interesting because it would seem to correlate in a manner with tht of intention experiments in parapsychology.. Which do seem to show a difference in probability distributions.. So perhaps something is actually reaching towards these things.

[@tiffanyphan7190]

This opened my mind

[@Beyond_Belief534]

Thu Phan Do you believe you are living on a spinning ball?

[@Beyond_Belief534]

Cliff Hanley Why choose to believe when you claim to know? Can you provide a practical example of a body of water naturally conforming around the exterior of a shape?

[@jaredprince4772]

+Thu Phan If you mean, as I suspect, the reasoned response to the issue at hand has given you cause to consider an idea or approach you had not previously or to accept the same, that is good as long as you don't waffle like a politician. Actually, I consider being closed-minded, in general, to be superior to being open-minded. I wouldn't want my brain to fall out due to my brain being too open nor would I want that fate for you. For some, being open means considering anything at all. No thanks. I don't have time to read the poorly written books and poorly reasoned concepts many suggest. I choose what I read and what is worth considering. I hope you too carefully consider what is worth exploring and accept things only after considering other reasonable alternatives.

[@anotherpointofview222]

@Beyond Belief Does anybody live on a spinning ball?

[@carleenmejzastrumunderthes4130]

Awesome

[@NCGStudios]

Can we use this clip on one of our KZbin podcasts to chat about?

[@snacklepussPSN]

Before you are born; you`re expected to be: But once you're conceived its believed you will be: An unknown wise man once said . . . “The likelihood of one individual being right, increases in direct proportion to the intensity with which others are trying to prove him wrong"

[@naayou99]

"There is a god" and "there is no god": in both cases external reality is presupposed and both are features of the external reality. Therefore, belief in external reality is not on equal footing as belief in God. Only brilliant J Searle would give such an analysis.

[@kallianpublico7517]

Belief is an intention? Intention is the "capacity of the mind to represent objects and states of affairs"? So consciousness must be ...what? What about acceptance? Is acceptance intentional? It seems to me that intention is active in a way that is not passive like acceptance. Where belief arises is when previous consciousness is challenged by personal ability when presented with something new. Acceptance is when previous consciousness is not challenged when presented with something new. It seems to me that children who jump off roofs pretending they're Superman are filled with belief or acceptance? Are they filled with uncertainty about their beliefs and reality, or are the filled with certainty about their beliefs and reality? Childish belief and mature belief are two different things. Not just reason but experience is involved. Experience of what? Experience of intentions or experience of consciousness? What is the relationship between belief and consciousness?

[@badmephisto2]

Can Searle or Kuhn please explain the long list of Prophets who preached Monotheism, which does not only mean that there is God, but emphasises on the Unity of Divinity. Why Abraham and Moses and Jesus and Mohammed all preaching the exact same concept though they are hundreds of years apart and existed in hugely different cultures? And ironically their followers are most of the times daggers drawn against each other. But no difference between the prophets. I wish the ones searching for Truth read Socrates, Plato, Plotinus, Ibn e Arabi, Rumi and Hafiz etc. to understand the Unity and Prevalence of Ultimate Reality. In modern days, Henri Corbin is a wonderful source. I pray people like Searle and Dennett come out of their ignorance and be spared of shameful ignominy in the eternal life. Thanks

[@MorphingReality]

The belief in god, especially based on faith, seems more like a desire than a presupposition. Faith is essentially desire.

[@cube2fox]

But desires are not usually converted into beliefs or presuppositions. Faith seems to be mainly rooted in what you learn at a very young age, because that's when most people aquire their faith and then keep it. Faith is usually somehow "inherited" from the parents (because they are the ones who influence children at a very young age), and the children of Muslims will usually also believe in Allah, the children of Hindus will probably believe in Hindu gods and so on. The question is: Why do we stop believing many things we believed as a child (e.g. the existence of Santa Claus) when we grow up and learn that they are unfounded, but we (or many people at least) don't stop believing in God? I think for many people God becomes a background presupposition (in the sense Searle describes) in childhood, while Santa Claus "merely" becomes a belief when they learn about him at young age. And while mere beliefs can be easily given up, background presuppositions cannot. This creates a further question: Why is the belief in God a background presupposition for many people, but not a ordinary belief? Maybe because God plays a role in a "theory of everything" in childhood, in the sense that you can explain everything with God (Why is the sky blue? Because God made it so etc). After you grow up and learn about science and so on you no longer need the belief in God as an explanation for everything, but you will likely keep it because you cannot easily discard beliefs which are background presuppositions. Additionally, many people (at least in developed countries) modify their belief in God so that it doesn't directly contradict scientific explanations. So they don't have to ask themselves: Do I really still need that background presupposition? And even for people who ask themselves these question, one possible answer is: Well, God isn't needed as background presupposition for good explanations, but at least it gives me hope (for help in bad times, for an afterlife). Of course they wouldn't say this explicitly because then it was clear that it is just wishful thinking.

[@Drigger95]

Trurl genetic fallacy.

[@Roy__Batty]

Morphing Reality you’re edgy and profound

[@bobs182]

God is having a mind as the basis of reality. Rather than a mind being an aspect of the brain, a super mind thought/willed the material world into existence. Theistic ideas place concepts over the object of the concept.

[@Chrisplumbgas]

He presupposes the nature and existence of the mind to base anything at all in.

[@carleenmejzastrumunderthes4130]

I like his views

[@johnrobbins9928]

WHAT IS BELIEF ? Belief is the perception plus the trust that something is “REAL” Belief is the trust in that which is being perceived or seen or thought or conceived of as “REAL” and that it actually exists! Belief is knowing without a doubt. John A. Robbins

[@bitofwizdomb7266]

Doesn’t always make it true tho

[@szymonpodolski9004]

Where are they ?

[@GeoCoppens]

Belief is accepting as real that what is not a state of affairs in reality.

[@anotherpointofview222]

Belief is what you accept to be true. Acceptance has no bearing on the actual truth. Actual truth meaning what is, regardless of anyone's belief.

[@chrisbennett6260]

you didnt press him Robert because you share his perception and his belief

[@carsonpaullee]

6:30 there is a rational ground for knowing God, the tautological argument and direct experience based on that. He just doesn't find it convincing which is his right as a rational being to make that choice.

[@AskPolymathGeddy]

John Searle is a brilliant man but is not realizing that although the vast majority of all theists mindlessly believe and are completely incapable of offering logical and philosophical defenses their their belief, it is still very possible to do so without it becoming a "background" presupposition. When one considers the 4 major arguments for theism: Infinite Regress, Objective Moral Values, Absolute Rights, and Intelligent Design, it becomes much less of a presupposition and much more of a high and rational probability.

[@Roy__Batty]

Ask Polymath Geddy your mustache is edgy as fuck

[@anotherpointofview222]

"Mindlessly believe." LOL. How do you believe without a mind? What kind of mindlessly ignorant statement is that?

[@SmilesAlot90]

Check out this guy, I thought his break down on beliefs was helpful @

[@germanarroyo1396]

The background is a concept established by Wittgenstein. He must recognize that.

[@jaredprince4772]

Why do you think the background of presuppositional concepts such as causal relationships was established by Wittgenstein? No person can claim to have established a concept of the background. That's a part of communication itself that likely precedes written language.

[@taylornovia8911]

The heart has reasons the reason knows nothing of

[@residentatheist3181]

Belief is simply another way of saying "I don't know the truth but I am willing to make a guess based on the information I have”. It works like this. Given the choice of something, there are three possible options (true, false or unknown). You either know something is true, you know something is false or you don’t know if it is true or false. Example: The question “Is my dog in the living room”. If you are in the living room and see your dog in the living room the answer is true, if you are in the living room and your dog is not there the answer is false but if you are not in your living room you would not know so the answer is unknown or “I don’t know”. This is where belief comes in. Maybe someone you live with calls you up and tells you your dog is in the living room. You are not there so you don’t really know for sure that your dog is in the living room but you take their word for it and now you believe your dog is in the living room. This doesn’t make your belief true or false because you don’t really know the truth. Truth and Belief are mutually exclusive.

[@zatoichiable]

I believe in the absolute justice in the afterlife. Death is a belief till one dies it becomes a fact.

[@Michael-Hammerschmidt]

You believe that the belief in the afterlife is absolutely justified? If this is what you are implying, for what reasons do you believe this?

[@zatoichiable]

Praepes Divine justice. You cannot just slaughter million people and safe being just dead.

[@jaredprince4772]

The belief in justice in the afterlife is comforting to those that think justice is necessary. That there is proof of it after death is also a belief, so saying it becomes a fact is false. Those that have a punitive mindset tend to seek justice while those that seek the greater good for both society and its members seek to teach good behavior and rehabilitate those that harm others and remove those that won't rehabilitate. Punishment is a poor teacher. Reward is much more effective. When the members of a society care about the other members they don't need to be punitive because it is counter-pruductive and selfish. It works better for society when the abuser is rehabilitated and becomes productive rather than an ongoing drain in a system of imprisonment requiring housing and jailers.

[@bobs182]

The afterlife can never be a fact of life.

[@2010sunshine]

Psychologists, Behavioural Scientists and Sociologists can give a better account of beliefs.

[@IGNOBLEVOIDPEEKER]

Although Searle is a great philosopher. Do not forget (unless you didn't know) about the horrendous things Searle has done while at Berkeley. Constant acts of sexual harrasment to his students and employees. All the while Berkeley covered it all up. He also destroyed the life of renters in the Berkeley area.

[@hakims511]

I'm not satisfied with the answer he gave. That's my belief.

[@leopemberton5439]

Beliefes are not facts people believe because they want what they believe to be true all Beliefes have little evidence of being truth Knowing is PREFFERABLE to believing because knowing is based on experience I know what an apple tastes like because I have eat one Or I believe an apple tastes sweet because someone told me Believing or knowing God God is love I know God because I see him in every act of kindness and love I don't believe in God I know God 💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚 GOD IS LOVE KNOW HIM SEE HIM BE HIM

[@chrisrendon461]

Which one there is thousands

[@theenlightenment3370]

He himself and encouraging others to run away from responsibilities. There is a book called Qur'an: it challenged humanity to produce something like it, and so far it's been one thousand and four hundred years and so far no one produced anything like it. Why? Also, the oppressor and the oppressed will not end up in the same place; it's necessary to bring them back to life and judge between them.

[@MrPatrickDayKennedy]

Ha - too funny that these two guys are sitting in a room full of crystals :)

[@samfire3067]

They gonna use the cristals to get Crazy later. Hehehehe.

[@rocio8851]

I believe my neighbour would taste pretty good. Why not have him at lunch?

[@rationalsceptic7634]

Faith and Belief are not the same! Despite being a leading and legendary living Philosopher,Searle was stripped of his Emeritus Title for sexual harassment..

[@bitofwizdomb7266]

The mind can be fooled . You may be holding beliefs that aren’t true. They have to be rational. Talk to a schizophrenic or a cult member

[@QbutNotTheQ]

🐕💨

[@frankieu2598]

Lotta irrational beliefs out there, such that facts don’t even matter.