The Agnostic’s Exit Strategy (Agnosticism)

by Cary Cook , Wednesday, June 25, 2008, 01:49 (5994 days ago) @ dhw

Let's try this. You define belief. I'll point out the defects or unclarity in your definition until you have a clear and philosophically stable definition ... of the actual existing concept, not "what it is to you". If we're talking about what an actual existing concept IS, I can help you figure it out. But if you just want to talk about what A, B, C, etc. are "to you", I couldn't care less. I'm not interested in learning your subjective language. I discuss objective reality in order to help me (or someone else) understand objective reality better. - I can understand why you might not think of belief as an objective concept, because it's actually two objective concepts, as I pointed out. And I admit that both concepts exist only in minds, but they are both objective in the same sense that any number is an objective concept, even though it exists only in minds. Probability is also an objective concept even though it exists only in minds. It means between 50% & 100% likelihood. Conviction is a subjective concept. Though everyone has a vague idea of what it means, any attempt to draw a line between conviction and non-conviction is arbitrary. (I'm obviously not talking about legal conviction, which is another concept ... an objective one.) - So if you want to talk about objective reality, I'm extremely competent at it. If you want to talk about what terms are to you, I'm not interested. What's it gonna be?