Why we believe...and disbelieve...and argue so

[Speck Tater]

Whether it is the fundamentalist or the atheist; the right-wing zealot or the radical leftie; the ardent "skeptci" or the believer in psychic phenomena, we have seen the same kinds of arguments in this forum over and over.

Granted, we tend to all be on the same side of the politcal spectrum here, but the flame wars rage from time to time on various other matter of what we do and do not believe.

Here's and interesting quote, and a reference to the rest of the work gleaned from a recent post in another forum: ("The Fixation of Belief." by C.S. Sanders (Popular Science Monthly 12, November 1877, 1-15))

"The irritation of doubt is the only immediate motive for the struggle to attain belief. It is certainly best for us that our beliefs should be such as may truly guide our actions so as to satisfy our desires; and this reflection will make us reject every belief which does not seem to have been so formed as to insure this result. But it will only do so by creating a doubt in the place of that belief.

With the doubt, therefore, the struggle begins, and with the cessation of doubt it ends. Hence, the sole object of inquiry is the settlement of opinion. We may fancy that this is not enough for us, and that we seek, not merely an opinion, but a true opinion. But put this fancy to the test, and it proves groundless; for as soon as a firm belief is reached we are entirely satisfied, whether the belief be true or false.

And it is clear that nothing out of the sphere of our knowledge can be our object, for nothing which does not affect the mind can be the motive for mental effort. The most that can be maintained is, that we seek for a belief that we shall think to be true. But we think each one of our beliefs to be true, and, indeed, it is mere tautology to say so."

http://www.peirce.org/writings/p107.html

Perhaps if we recognize the truth of this and take it to heart we can be more tollerant of each other's beliefs and not be so quick to call each other idiots, gullible fools, or worse.

We argue, then, because our belief brings us comfort from doubt, and to hear someone doubt what we believe brings great discomfort because it weakens the foundation upon which our emotional comfort is built. The fundie greats an atheist's logic with fear disguised as anger because his security blanket is treatened by that logic and that is frightening in the extreme. The materialist greats evidence of ESP or ghosts with frear disguised as anger because his security blanket is threatened by that evidence and that is frightening in the extreme.

Yet if we stop trying to rip away each other's security blankets and work, instead, on helping people outgrow those security blankets, we'd be a lot better off.

And perhaps it will help us to recognize how our RW friends got to be that way so that maybe we can help them recover rather than simply calling them names. If we can help them relieve their fear of doubt perhaps they wouldn't have to take refuge in rigid ideologies. If we could help the rigid skeptic rise above his fears perhaps he wouldn't recoil in terror at the notion of ghosts or ESP.

Perhaps if we could ALL learn to be more open-0minded there wouldn't be so many wars; online flame-wars and real-world shooting wars.

[CShine]

1. Your post fails to address the issue because it's flawed by design.

Your entire post is grounded in logic. Belief does not need a logical basis. As soon as you try to analyze belief logically, you're lost. Belief is a thing entirely unto itself. It does not need any outside rationale.

[johnnie]

2. It's the human ego

I try not to argue to prove I am right, because it really doesn't matter. To say that someone is wrong in what they believe and to belittle their opinions is just an attempt to boost your own ego and feel that you have reached a higher sense of intelligence.
Personally, at 40 years old I have yet to begin to learn anything. I learned a long time ago that the more you yap your trap the less you hear. I don't agree with 100% of the things I hear, but every now and then someone says something I never thought about before.
But it is human nature to try to keep the ego happy so many people want to argue that they are always right.