RE: Choosing to believe
March 6, 2014 at 12:43 pm
(This post was last modified: March 6, 2014 at 12:44 pm by Mister Agenda.)
(March 5, 2014 at 5:13 pm)Jacob(smooth) Wrote: I have a 90 minute drive to work on a Wednesday. I try to vary my audio book / podcast listening pleasure. Hence this morning was the rather entertaining "across the pond", a current affairs Christian podcast, and this evening was "the God delusion".
On of prof Dawkins statements, under Pascals Wager, was that one can't simply decide to believe in something. I wonder if that's true.
What say you?
I think you can convince yourself of anything, given enough time and effort; or be convinced of anything through sufficient brainwashing and/or torture; but you can't change your beliefs on a whim. Changing beliefs can happen quickly if you hold your beliefs lightly and are willing to amend them based on new information, but I don't consider that merely choosing to believe something different.
For instance, I stopped believing Harvestmen are deadly poisonous once I learned they are not, on the spot. Coming to believe that I am an earthly agent of the loa would probably involve more effort.
