The Ethics of Belief

[Dystopia]

The argument Clifford is presenting is essentially this: What you believe affects your actions, and your actions affect others. As you are responsible for the effects of your actions on others, so, too, are you responsible for the beliefs that prompt your actions. So just as you have a responsibility to be careful about your actions, you have a responsibility to be careful about your beliefs that lead to your actions. And the way one is responsible about one's beliefs is by seeking evidence prior to accepting a proposition as true or false; that is, prior to having a belief one way or another about the matter, one should have evidence.

Thanks for starting this topic and making a small summary of the main argument. I partially agree with what the author says, but I also have some doubts, namely:

- What if what you believe doesn't affect your actions? For example, if I believe in a deistic god that created the universe and doesn't care about Human affairs, does that belief impact my actions? How would you respond if the belief didn't and couldn't impact one's actions?
- Is there always a correlation between beliefs and actions? How do we prove that a hideous act like murder, even if the author claims it was in the name of some god we all know, was really motivated by belief? Can we prove it?
- How do you define evidence? I suppose it's the criterion of "verification" that means you need some kind of proof to know something works or not - But do we apply that criterion to everything in life? I used the example of love between me and my significant other (in the other thread) as an example of belief unsupported by evidence, but I still find that belief rational. I can't comprehend what goes on the theist mind, but it's something that makes them believe.