(February 8, 2011 at 8:50 am)Matthew Wrote: and it is rational to believe the premises
I just can't think of any premise I could rationally believe that involves the supernatural (the invisible, unmeasurable, intangible, etc.)...
(February 8, 2011 at 8:50 am)Matthew Wrote: I take the existence of God to be what's known as a basic belief which supports all other beliefs, and that without that basic belief we are unable to rationally believe anything. I thus reason from God's existence, not to it. [This means that I take a particular epistemological view called foundationalism, which says that a belief is rational if it is basic or it is ultimately supported by at least one basic belief.]
Foundationalism (Wikipedia) Wrote:Basic beliefs are said to be self-justifying or self-evident
Typically and historically, foundationalists have held either that basic beliefs are justified by mental events or states, such as experiences, that do not constitute beliefs (these are called non-doxastic mental states), or that they simply are not the type of thing that can be (or needs to be) justified.
A foundationalist might offer the following theory of justification:
A belief is epistemically justified only if (1) it is justified by a basic belief or beliefs, or (2) it is justified by a chain of beliefs that is supported by a basic belief or beliefs, and on which all the others are ultimately based.
Well, I can definitely see how you might believe in God if this is where you're coming from. However, I personally don't see God as self-evident at all. The world makes much more sense to me as an atheist than when I ever believed in God (and I did, for a while). I think we can rationally believe things and have rich emotional experiences because we have amazingly evolved brains. Some may call their experiences 'God,' but I just don't see the need.
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