RE: Question about "faith"
September 12, 2020 at 4:15 pm
(This post was last modified: September 12, 2020 at 4:42 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
The theory of ethics is named after the truth theory (or, in this case, anti-truth theory) which corresponds to it, and you most certainly asked about emotivism when you suggested that we may not have a way of knowing other than feeling like we know.
Knowledge, in that view, is impossible. For us, at least - it's all misattribution. Even that wouldn't certify the general impossibility of knowledge, or the non existence or insensibility of distinct categories of knowledge claims, though. It would be an example of the specific incompetence of a species.
Now, personally, I don't afford that view any credibility whatsoever. It's absurd, on it's face, to claim that knowing because we feel a certain way is equivalent to knowing because we engaged in a thorough investigation of the subject and after much consideration have arrived at an inescapable conclusion. Knowing that britney spears is the best pop artist to ever live, and knowing the decay rate of oxygen. As absurd as suggesting that we have no knowledge whatsoever, no way to know. ..anything. We can't actually have (or be having) a sensible or logical conversation about this, or anything else, if that were true.
I doubt that you believe this to be the case, and to an extent, the reality of living as a human being gives us good reason to doubt our competence, but I don't think it gives us any reason whatsoever to doubt the possibility of knowledge. You, for example, are a person who can assess claims for their truth value, and you employ methods and criteria other than some certain way to feel. Sometimes...I'm sure, you've been lead to change your mind about a fact even though you felt a very certain and very negative way about it. An unhappy or inconvenient truth that we nevertheless concede to be true on the merits of the claim rather than our emotional attachments to it's antithesis. I'm sure you also...like all of us...engage in plenty of knowledge based solely and explicitly on feeling a certain way. I don't want you to walk away feeling like I think that it's impossible - I think we do it all the time - just that this is not the full extent of our ability or potential.
Knowledge, in that view, is impossible. For us, at least - it's all misattribution. Even that wouldn't certify the general impossibility of knowledge, or the non existence or insensibility of distinct categories of knowledge claims, though. It would be an example of the specific incompetence of a species.
Now, personally, I don't afford that view any credibility whatsoever. It's absurd, on it's face, to claim that knowing because we feel a certain way is equivalent to knowing because we engaged in a thorough investigation of the subject and after much consideration have arrived at an inescapable conclusion. Knowing that britney spears is the best pop artist to ever live, and knowing the decay rate of oxygen. As absurd as suggesting that we have no knowledge whatsoever, no way to know. ..anything. We can't actually have (or be having) a sensible or logical conversation about this, or anything else, if that were true.
I doubt that you believe this to be the case, and to an extent, the reality of living as a human being gives us good reason to doubt our competence, but I don't think it gives us any reason whatsoever to doubt the possibility of knowledge. You, for example, are a person who can assess claims for their truth value, and you employ methods and criteria other than some certain way to feel. Sometimes...I'm sure, you've been lead to change your mind about a fact even though you felt a very certain and very negative way about it. An unhappy or inconvenient truth that we nevertheless concede to be true on the merits of the claim rather than our emotional attachments to it's antithesis. I'm sure you also...like all of us...engage in plenty of knowledge based solely and explicitly on feeling a certain way. I don't want you to walk away feeling like I think that it's impossible - I think we do it all the time - just that this is not the full extent of our ability or potential.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
