Which Comes First?

[Eilonnwy]

Things like theories of morality?

Sure.

It would seem that only matters if your belief is actually called for. Right? Just because I tell you that I saw a ghost, that doesn't mean you are required to believe ghosts exist (explicit). I am not even asking you to change your worldview (implicit). I am simply telling you something that happened. You may not believe ghosts exist yourself, but in the final analysis, what has that to do with my experience?

I'm simply stating the difference between believing someone's name is what they say it is and whether they had an experience with a ghost. My standards for accepting either claim is different. They have to be. I can't require everyone I meet to show me ID, but I can't accept every extraordinary claim uncritically because then my susceptibility to nonsense is overwhelming.

There's a difference between believing someone is convinced that what they say happened actually happened, and believing that what they say happened, actually happened. See the distinction?