Thanks for the plug, Ed. W.K. Clifford was a brilliant philosopher and mathematician. Had he not died in his early thirties, his name would be as prominent as those of the most notable Anglo-American philosophers of the nineteenth century, such as James, Peirce, and Mill. His essay on the ethics of belief shows the basic connection between rationality and ethics. We have epistemic duties just as we have moral duties. In fact, epistemic duties are a subset of moral duties. Beliefs have consequences and when people act on irrational beliefs, bad things happen. I think that Clifford's stricture that we should believe nothing without sufficient evidence is a bit too strict. I have an infinite number of beliefs and it would be impossible to check each one for the sufficiency of its evidence. Further, many beliefs are subjective or based upon immediate perception or memory rather than evidence. I remember having coffee for breakfast this morning, and I don't need to go to the kitchen to check for evidence. Other beliefs are inconsequential. I (weakly) believe that the Georgia Bulldogs football team will win a third national championship in four years this year. So what if I'm wrong? However, when millions of people are invincibly certain that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election and that the 91 felony counts against him are all a "witch hunt," this is something serious.
Betting against your favorite team is a way to ensure that, whatever the outcome, you have something to cheer about.
Just sayin'.
Thanks for the plug, Ed. W.K. Clifford was a brilliant philosopher and mathematician. Had he not died in his early thirties, his name would be as prominent as those of the most notable Anglo-American philosophers of the nineteenth century, such as James, Peirce, and Mill. His essay on the ethics of belief shows the basic connection between rationality and ethics. We have epistemic duties just as we have moral duties. In fact, epistemic duties are a subset of moral duties. Beliefs have consequences and when people act on irrational beliefs, bad things happen. I think that Clifford's stricture that we should believe nothing without sufficient evidence is a bit too strict. I have an infinite number of beliefs and it would be impossible to check each one for the sufficiency of its evidence. Further, many beliefs are subjective or based upon immediate perception or memory rather than evidence. I remember having coffee for breakfast this morning, and I don't need to go to the kitchen to check for evidence. Other beliefs are inconsequential. I (weakly) believe that the Georgia Bulldogs football team will win a third national championship in four years this year. So what if I'm wrong? However, when millions of people are invincibly certain that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election and that the 91 felony counts against him are all a "witch hunt," this is something serious.