Blog Prompt : Explain the characteristics of a belief that is live, forced, and momentous. Give examples for each. What kind of belief fits all three? Has James found an exception to Clifford’s standard for belief? Do you agree more with Clifford or James?
A belief that is live has some impact or appeal on a person.
Example:
Do you believe that you can drink regularly and have a good life?
Either answer yes or no is a belief that effects something of value. For a believe to be live for a particular person, said person must be invested somehow in this belief. In the example above we are assuming that people care about having a good life. This makes the example a live opinion
A belief that is forced is a belief that is kinda “all or nothing”.
Example:
Will you talk to me?
In this example you have to choose between yes or no making it an almost entirely binary decision. If you say I don’t know then you are still in flux and you still eventually have choose. The difference from this and the live opion example is that in this you may not really care whether or not you want to talk to me. You could live you life fine without deciding. But still by the question is forced you can either talk or not.
A belief that is momentousness is one that has a big impact on life or that is rare.
Example:
Do you think people can keep on raising livestock as we do currently and have a sustainable world?
Now this is monumentuous beacuse if the earth is altered too much it may no longer be a suitable habit for life. Keeping the only world we have is a rare and imactful opportunity, therefore I would call this an momunmentous opionion
A belief with all three ideas is…
Do you want to spend the time to get an education and risk potentially not enriching your life in the way you wanted?
This opion is forced in that you either go to school or don’t. Binary
This opion is living in that people generally care about the outcome and future of their lives
This opion is momentous because it can lead to many possibilities, benefits and consequences.
I agree with James. In that making small errors help lead to true knowledge. so errors should not be feared but still thoroughly sought after. For example I’m not sure if everything I’m writing in this journal is true or even agrees with James, Clifford or the prompt. If i wanted to make sure it was one hundred percent error free I would never Finnish the first sentence and the world would decompose around me as I sit on my desk searching for any inconsistency, grammar error or logic error. But on the other hand if I too easily admit that my journal will never be perfect, I may not spend the proper time to edit it and it won’t be as elegant as it could be. Again I agree with Jame’s idea that both extremes are undesirable and a middle path is the only answer that won’t drive you to gullibility or fanaticism.
Dope quote from reading. William James’s “The Will to Believe.”
“In a world where we are so certain to incur them(errors) in spite of all our caution, a certain lightness of heart seems healthier than this excessive nervousness on their behalf.” Just like the story where the king who tried to change his sons destiny by sending him far away, actually played a part in assuring that same destiny he wished to avoid; we too encounter errors even when acting with the upmost caution.
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Scribbled symphony 