BELIEF is not complicated. (Introduction)

by Cary Cook , Thursday, May 29, 2008, 02:04 (6021 days ago) @ George Jelliss

>I don't see how judgment of probability can be automatic. - It's automatic not in the sense of speed, but in the sense of an outcome that is unchangeable by an act of will. - e.g. I think my car will probably start based on prior experience. I think the price of gasoline today will be higher than it was yesterday. I can't, think otherwise by any desire to think otherwise. If I allow emotion to affect my probability judgment, I'm trying to deceive myself. In your trial example, a juror weighs all the evidence and judges guilty or not guilty based on the apparent weight of that evidence. The juror may choose to render a verdict contrary to his probability judgment, but that's an act of will.
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>what is the meaning of the word "consider"? - The word, "think" would have the same meaning. And yes it is a truism. Anyone who claims to think something which he thinks improbable is either confused or lying. But if I don't say it, someone will think I forgot about that possibility.
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>You go on to say that "trust" is a voluntary act of will, yet you also say it depends on our "motivation", which surely depends on strength of feeling, or emotion, not on pure logic. - Correct. That's exactly what I'm saying.
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>the whole concept of "will" is fraught with all sorts of philosophical difficulties. - I'm only asserting that a will exist in every person. That shouldn't be a problem for anyone but a determinist.
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>You are just confusing the issue more. - DHW agrees, therefore I concede that further explanation is necessary.
But if you are a determinist, no amount of explanation will suffice. I'm not a determinist. If you are a determinist, you are speaking an entirely different philosophical language, and there's no point in us talking, because we can't even agree on what the word "choose" means.