Belief and Certainty

[Jenny A]

Theists clearly don't use evidentiary, statistical or logical rules. They use emotional congruence-- if it "feels" real, then it must be true.

In the theists' defense, we all do this. How many of us actually understand cutting edge science well enough to evaluate the conclusions of new theories/hypotheses?

Can we "prove" that anything is real? Can we "prove" that someone else is a thinking person, and not just a cyborg? No. It just feels so right that we take these things as obvious. But sometimes what feels right is wrong anyway.

I use emotional congruence when dealing with people. But, with science what I'm really relying on is that mostly medicine works, satellites stay on track, the phone works, the computer works etc. So I assume that more stuff brought to you by the same people will work.

It's fun to read about why it works sometimes. But that's just an embellishment. Reliance on science usually works so I go on relying on it.