What does believe mean to you?
2006-09-29 06:58:36 · 8 answers · asked by nans85 3 in Arts & Humanities ➔ Philosophy
Belief is the OPPOSITE of knowledge & understanding. It is accepting something as true when you have absolutely no evidence or reason to support it. Evidence & reason may sometimes actually contradict the belief, or there simply might not be any to begin with.
Belief is often motivated by a subconscious desire for something to be true, which overrides one's critical thinking abilities with regards to that belief. Thus, beliefs are at their heart an emotional reaction, not rational.
While I don't demand empirical proof for EVERYTHING, I am nonetheless a strong advocate for intellectual integrity. Having intellectual integrity doesn't necessarily mean being a skeptic on every issue, but it does mean having the ability and willingness to admit that something you believe (as opposed to know) may be unfounded and nothing more than wishful thinking. I don't think a human could properly function without _some_ beliefs--we can't know everything, after all--but we can strive to minimize them and recognize them for what they are. Doing so will allow us to keep our beliefs in the proper context, and not get carried away with them.
Think of it in religious terms. If ignorance is the devil, then belief is when the devil seduces you into wanting and freely accepting him. Because that's basically what a belief is: a nugget of ignorance held on to and even cherished by the believer.
2006-09-29 08:52:45 · answer #1 · answered by R[̲̅ə̲̅٨̲̅٥̲̅٦̲̅]ution 7 · 1⤊ 1⤋
To me, believe is to accept something as true after a thorough investigation, and when the conclusion you draw after all the information is in, is that there is no physical, tangible evidence to support your conclusion, but the logical conclusion is there, then you have to accept it based on what you know. That's what I believe, anyway.
2006-09-29 14:09:44 · answer #2 · answered by Canned Spam 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
That I wear a size 6 when in reality I wear a 9
2006-09-29 14:01:51 · answer #3 · answered by prizelady88 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Aside from a figure of speech, it means bre on your guard. You're about to be fed a line of bull.
2006-09-29 14:05:39 · answer #4 · answered by Sophist 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
To know as surely as one knows how to breathe or how to love.
2006-09-29 14:05:58 · answer #5 · answered by snoop_dougie_doug04 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Wisdom, knowledge and understanding.
2006-09-29 14:09:30 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
what you can accept as reality.
whatever truth that has been realised.
2006-09-29 16:35:40 · answer #7 · answered by *wonderful lady* 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
its a word. check the dictionary.
2006-09-29 14:04:58 · answer #8 · answered by kermit 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋