Читать книгу Philosophy For Dummies - Tom Morris - Страница 37

It’s crucial at the outset of this deep dive into belief and knowledge to realize that nearly everyone has an enormous number of beliefs about all kinds of things, including matters they’ve never even explicitly thought about. And if Chekov was even remotely right when he said that you are what you believe, then you have good reason to investigate whether you can be comfortable with your most important beliefs. You’d better examine them well and make sure you feel good about having them. Some of these beliefs, you are well aware of having. Others ordinarily may be hidden from view, but a little philosophical investigation can reveal what they are.

Beliefs are important for a number of reasons. Wars are fought over them. Deals are made or broken because of them. People gather together due to important beliefs they have in common. They also separate from each other because of divergent beliefs. It turns out that you will likely chart out your life in every way in accordance with your beliefs.

Many philosophers have analyzed typical human actions as a natural consequence of beliefs interacting with desires, in this simple formula:

 Beliefs + Desires = Actions

What you do is a result of what you believe and what you want. If what you want is a consequence of what you believe to be good or pleasurable, then belief is indeed the ultimate wellspring of action. Having the right beliefs is then not just a matter of intellectual importance, but it’s of the utmost practical value as well.

And yet, here’s the problem. Everyone has some false beliefs. All human beings are fallible in this way and mistaken about some things. To err is human, and all that. No one is completely infallible or immune to getting things wrong. Even a traditional Catholic who thinks the Pope is infallible about matters of faith still realizes he could misplace his socks, believing they’re in the top drawer of his dresser when they’re not.

Smart people can often have false beliefs about even obvious, easy-to-check things like that. Imagine how nearly anyone can get things wrong about more subtle and complex matters.