[lit-ideas] Can All Our Beliefs Be False?
- From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 29 Apr 2013 23:52:53 -0400 (EDT)
In a message dated 4/29/2013 7:28:47 P.M. UTC-02,
donalmcevoyuk@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
"A drowning man may be another example: intuitively, or instinctively, the
drowing man may reach out forlornly for something to grasp - and we might
imagine this would be the intuitive or instinctive reaction of someone
falling through outer space. And we might understand their intuitive or
instinctive response in terms of a disposition evolved by 'natural selection'
- a
disposition that might prove useful when falling from a tree or other
height in the environments in which the man's ancestors evolved, but not in an
ocean or outer space where there is nothing to grasp."
A similar point:
From an online source:
"(According to the sceptic all our beliefs could be false. According to
Davidson, they could not all be. In fact, most must be true.)"
It occurs to me that Davidson's (and also Grice's) line of interpreting
this may be useful.
It seems the drowing-man scenario invokes some false belief (if belief it
is), "I have something to grasp".
It may seem that Garcia's rats also require an ascription of a special
type.
However, as Davidson suggests, there is a need for a sort of transcendental
justification to the effect that MOST of our beliefs are (or have to be)
true. Or not.
How this relates to philosophical psychology, later.
Cheers,
Speranza
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