Are reasons for belief a mere process of rationalisation or there is more to it?

Question

..if you choose one school of thought over another:

Take belief in Science, Mathematics and Art above the various God(s) and ancient philosophies like Tao or Dao.
Is belief motivated by feelings or rationalised through various thought patterns ?

Comments:
This is turning out to be a chicken and egg question.
In general, Psychologists believe Belief comes before rationalisation; Philosophers think Rationalisation allows belief.

Answer 1

Personally I think it comes down to cognitive bias.

We all have learnt simplifying strategies and rules of thumb to ease the burden of mentally processing information to make judgements and decisions.

Unfortunately in some cases these lead to consistent and predictable errors. These are called cognitive biases.

In the case of "Confirmation Bias" your choice, or interpretation, of information confirms your preconceptions.

Some people presumably are more prepared to accept the idea of something supernatural than others. So the evidence they see around them supports this view. Particularly if they are either brought up in a 'religious' family or culture.

Of course, this doesn't explain the origin of the original tendancy towards say science or faith. Damn! It IS a bit chicken and egg, isn't it!


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Answer 2

It is said that belief is unique in that it does not require rationalization and a popular definition is believing in something without evidence.

I believe that when you combine atoms of sodium and chlorine that sodium chloride will form as salt. I believe this to be true even though I cannot see it and have never done the experiment. Am I going out on a limb?

I suggest that after sufficient evidence we come to believe in something. We have created a vetting process to verify information. Motive is examined, disagreement with other beliefs is looked at, persistence is considered. I think we have some coefficient of confidence we attach to all knowledge. I distinguish faith from belief and consider belief without evidence as a form of ignorance.

I believe strongly in God.

Answer 3

All things are done to suit ourselves. If it didn't fulfill us any by the pursuit, we wouldn't search for it. Truly all things are known on some level, but with todays logic, with the idea of scientific reasoning and proof, people required more concrete evidence to "know" things rather than simply following their hearts to the answer. All things are temporary and thus, any accomplishment we partake in, eventually will rewind and erase, but I suppose the chase is half the fun. Our purpose is to be happy in the time we're allotted on this earth. What makes us happy varies individually. Find what suits you best and follow it as best you can. Most of nature that truly matters, will take place naturally. As though your own healing faculties when you get a cut or the like. As though gravity, or as though the rotation of earth and sun. When it is time for you to go, the universe will take care of it naturally. The only thing you have to worry about really is suiting yourself. Not the judgemental opinion of what you should be doing, going to work or school or whatever. Do what suits you, and the rest will fade in history. It's all that matters, and people tend to forget that.

Answer 4

Belief in science subjects is easily gained owing to the consistent results to the problems of identical nature through set formulae, while in religious philosophy the rationalities have severe limitations and there is no guarantee of consistency in the results of identical situations...

For example, you can always find the area of a square or triangle using the relevent formulae... or the density or viscosity of a matter using relevent physical science formulae... But religion will say (for example) "Good Acts beget Good life and Bad ones, a bad life" which may not be confirmed in real life situations... A corrupt fellow may be leading a luxurious life of dignity and joy while an honest man may be living in much misery and anxiety...
it is difficult to apply mere generic formulae (as in the above quoted saying), or logic in religious messages...

The religious teachers would say that God sees the heart and not the externals - for example, the hypocritical charity or other help done by someone while all the while nurturing some selfish motive for the overtly good acts, would not qualify for the blessing of God to get good results... while, even a evil man doing some selfless help (in a freak moment) would get the grace... and so forth!

How can one know the inner feelings of individuals, to verify the results vis-a-vis the acts? If we try to imagine the real worth of good acts of charity etc of someone, through the results enjoyed by him /her, we may get confused ... for one can not know if the current results are for the acts of this year or last year and so forth... As such, in religion and phylosophy, the belief can not be possibly on rational grounds... it could be just faith.

Faith in God and religion is inculcated by the people one respects, the ones who love us in day to day life, who care for us and help us... there is no logic or rationality applied... the message should be right, thinks the average person.. That is it.

Rarely people who find that in the name of religion someone or some organisation is exploiting people or doing some conspicuous sin, they start revolting and dismissing the whole philosophy of the said religion by applying standards of logic that are not answered... I said "rarely" because not everyone who finds such deviancy in any institution jumps into a generic conclusion about the religion professed by it... only a few are affected that way...

So the conviction in science and belief in religion are not comparable... since they are operating in totally different planes.

Answer 5

we cannot, I believe simply as human beings and as part of our nature, think without feelings. thoughts bring about beliefs, and feelings bring about thought. Rational thought does not neccessairly have to be tied to feeling, such as math. I have a hard time imagining anyone having feeling/emotional drives tied to math, numbers, equations and the like. Art is almost all feeling/emotion. The reasons of belief can be either motivated by feeling or pure rational thought, but in the end, to use the word "belief" implies a bit of faith, which is not rational, and that is the part motivated be feeling.

Answer 6

Belief is most definitely motivated by feelings but of course there must be knowledge first. Knowledge comes through rationalisation.

Answer 7

Belief creates its own rationale. Rational thoughts take us to a spot from where we need to perform a spring jump to reach the realms of belief. The final act of taking to a belief is an emotional pull and not a rational push.

Answer 8

it's a lot of things, maybe all of those things. Before you conduct a scientific experiment, you have to rationalize realistically whether or not it will work. I'd say the same goes with all philosophies.

Answer 9

its all about faith. if you have faith in science, math, art or God there is no process of rationalisations.