RE: Question about "faith"
September 20, 2020 at 10:30 pm
(This post was last modified: September 20, 2020 at 10:32 pm by Belacqua.)
(September 20, 2020 at 10:10 pm)Sal Wrote: I'm using a conceptualization of 'faith' disparately distinct from 'unsupported belief', and 'belief' in general.
"I believe it" means "I hold it to be true." A person may hold well-supported beliefs or not-well-supported beliefs.
In what way are you using "he has faith" to mean something other than "he holds things to be true which are not well-supported"?
Quote:That's an ablative use of 'faith', to mean the same as 'justified belief'.
It's also a normal, everyday use of the word.
The first definition that Google gives me is this one:
Quote:faith
/feɪθ/
noun
noun: faith
1.
complete trust or confidence in someone or something.
"this restores one's faith in politicians"
The second one is probably the one you prefer.
Quote:2.
strong belief in the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof.
"bereaved people who have shown supreme faith"
So both senses are common. Is there some reason why you'd like to limit the word to the second definition?
Quote:Justified belief is based on inductive experience, same shit has happened over and over for the same conditions and you form a belief based on that experience that the same will happen again further down the line, a justified belief.
The word "faith" may be used to refer to justified belief. As when I have faith that the dentist will do the best job she can.
Unless you can show that the first definition, above, is not acceptable.
Quote:When there's a change of "the same conditions", like there's for trust or believing someone, then you'll start to doubt if that belief was warranted. It sorta loses its status as a 'justified belief', like only seeing white swans your entire life and then suddenly coming across a black swan (there are more problems with induction, I'm sure you're aware of, but we use it all the time for everything else).
Yes, if my dentist goes senile, or if she's caught using inferior materials, then conditions have changed and I will lose faith in her.