to decide not to decide is a decision in of itself? So how can you believe in not believing, isn't that believing to not believe? so why do people say I choose not to believe? thats just confusing.
only smart answers please. :)
2006-08-17 09:41:39 · 18 answers · asked by kimber g 4 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Don't confuse deciding with believing.
A decision is a choice. A choice that you've made. You may believe in the choice or have made it for other reasons.
A belief is how you feel about something. Presumably deeply-held beliefs will affect your decision making, though not usually to the exclusion of all other factors. For many people belief is not entirely a matter of choice... emotions are not always logical, are they?
So yes, if you decide not to decide about something, that is a decision. Deciding to make no decisions of any kind is a contradiction and therefore impossible! If you believe you should not decide about something, it says nothing about what you actually DO, just what you are inclined to do.
Likewise, you can believe that you should not (or do not) have beliefs, and this is a belief. Since belief is not action, there is no contradiction... just perhaps a sign of weakness, hypocrisy, or lack of integrity. You can also decide not to have a particular belief (people do this all the time), or not to have any beliefs if you like. I'm not sure that a person could live in any reasonable way with no beliefs of any kind - this sounds a lot like anarchy to me.
Hope that helps!
2006-08-17 10:35:44 · answer #1 · answered by Doctor Why 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
As I understand your question it is: How is it possible to choose not to believe? Isnt that the same as deciding not to decide, without deciding?
An intelligent person can simultaneously hold two mutually exclusive ideas in their mind at the same time. Just because you hold something in your mind does not constitute a decision to adhere, and identify your self with that idea, and treat that idea as an extension of your self.
Holding a mental idea is not the same as an emotional commitment. You can think about being in love with two women without actually being in love with either. You can wish you were in love with someone, but not be able to make yourself love them.
A serious life-long religious decision is a thing of the head AND of the heart. You can make a decision head, heart, both but not neither. Your heart can believe when your head doesnt... you are in for a lot of guilt after the fact of your actions. Your head can believe when your heart doesnt in which case you are in for some superficiality, contrivance, and unhappiness, or you can believe with both your head and heart... in which case you should also hope that reality and faith coincide. When they dont theres disappointment, and when they do there is some structure and meaning to life. Its okay if you dont want life to have meaning if you do not believe. Not being believed has never stopped the truth from being true, just from being acted upon.
2006-08-17 09:57:47 · answer #2 · answered by Curly 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Some people refuse to decide and make decisions with out careful deliberation and knowledge of all the facts.. This way the decision is one of informed knowledge. So in a way, to decide not to decide is a deliberate decision. To refuse to believe even if shown all the evidence and facts is foolish and reckless. Some people refuse to believe in the existence of God ,even though their very existence is a testament to that fact. So to believe in not believing is already a belief not to believe. When people say i choose not to believe; they are merely exercising their basic human rights:that of free will. : If they choose not to believe or decide, that's their prerogative. Everybody's is entitled to their beliefs. Nobody should dictate to you what you should believe in or not. I hope this is a smart answer for you.
2006-08-17 10:49:40 · answer #3 · answered by rosieC 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Deciding not to decide is a decision. Everybody believes in something, because you climb out of bed in the morning and believe that the floor is still there and you won't fall into a bottomless pit.
One can't say, I don't believe that virtue can be defined, without believing that they are justified in that position otherwise they wouldn't believe it. Belief is not true knowledge unless it is justified, by a more basic truth.
To choose not to believe, doesn't exclude that one believes in something, they are only rejecting certain beliefs, not reality itself.
2006-08-17 09:57:16 · answer #4 · answered by tigranvp2001 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Deciding to procrastinate, pushing the limit on taking a decision, thus maybe even never taking one, is indeed taking one, though the matter may always be recurrent in your head, as if that decision still yearns to be taken, as if you want to rewrite a past which is impossible to do of course. Procrastination never end
2006-08-17 12:20:27 · answer #5 · answered by robert43041 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Not to decide is already a decision. You always decide even if you decide not to believe it is a decision.
2006-08-17 11:25:15 · answer #6 · answered by farolito 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I believe I am having a hard time deciding to answer this question!
2006-08-17 09:47:37 · answer #7 · answered by Samba Queen 5 · 0⤊ 2⤋
To do nothing is a decision. Often a cop out, but a decision nonetheless.
2006-08-17 10:04:26 · answer #8 · answered by Love2Sew 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You sure can. Failure to do something is not a decision.
Chosing not to believe would be a decision, or a denial, depending how you look at it.
2006-08-17 09:50:55 · answer #9 · answered by mslider2 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
People say that because that is exactly what they mean. They choose not to belive in what you belive in. They believe that beleivng is wrong, or in other words, they think that having faith in something is wrong. (see, it works when you word it like that)
2006-08-17 10:29:23 · answer #10 · answered by eros_halo 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋