PHIL 1204 Lecture Notes - Lecture 15: Agnosticism, Atheism, Theism
16 Mar 2018
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Play a central role in my thinking (cid:498)worldview(cid:499), (cid:498)core values(cid:499) Evaluate by standard of (cid:498)reasonable(cid:499) rather than (cid:498)absolutely certain(cid:499) I know something if (p 13: i believe it, it is true, i have firm grounds/good evidence. More useful for science and everyday life than descartes" standard. What is a belief: not a feeling, not an activity, disposition: to react in certain ways in certain circumstances. Agnosticism: withhold belief as to whether or not god exists. Man with hat putting a white envelope into a mailbox. Dean of the law school mailing a birthday check to his daughter in belgium. First sentence is an observation sentence, second is not. Observation sentence: all competent language-users who witness the event will agree whether the sentence is true or not. Observation sentences formulate our beliefs that most directly tie us to the world: (cid:498)there"s a buzzing sound(cid:499, not: (cid:498)dad is sawing(cid:499) Starting with observation sentences, i form new beliefs by drawing inferences:
