Is there any difference in making an assumption and having faith?

Answer 1

Faith means confident belief in the truth, value or trustworthiness of a thing, person etc. (dictionary)

Assumption means assuming that something is true (dictionary).

Faith, contrary to what many believe, has something to do with the Truth, and truth has something to do with reason.
Assumption does not have to be true.

Belief is the conviction of the truth of a proposition.

They are anchored in Truth. I'd say ideally, first, we want to know the truth about life.

janaki

Answer 2

Making an assumption involves taking some information, and drawing a conclusion that is perhaps not adequately supported by the information/evidence, but there is at least some reason to believe that the evidence leads to the conclusion/assumption in some way.

Faith is by its definition independent of reason. That doesn't mean that you can't believe in something that you have both reason for and faith in (although there are some philosophers that have asserted this), but it does mean that if reason didn't point you to that belief, you'd still believe it.

Answer 3

Having faith seems to be an activity which utilizes will-power more often than not. In order for a person to "have faith," she usually CHOOSES to engage the mental (or non-physical) activity of having faith. When a person "makes an assumption," he often times will do so without any higher-order reflection...maybe without even realizing it...

E.g., He "has faith" that he will win the lottery, thus he buys a ticket....VS. She "assumed" that we all ate meat, thus she took us to a steak restaurant for dinner.

Also, to "make an assumption" sometimes means to "posit a presupposition," wherein you literally take the truth of something for granted, without any reflection as to "why" or "how" you can assume its truth value...It is merely an arbitrary starting point for philosophical reflection (one HAS to start somewhere)...
To "have faith" usually means to accept as true something already posited BECAUSE it is intrinsically and independently true (like religious principles, etc)...It is NOT arbitrary, but is a valid belief BECAUSE it is essentially true...

Of course, the lines between "faith" and "assumption" are not as clear-cut as this in everyday useage, and either word can be used as a synonym for the other in many common applications of English.

Personally, I like to think they are the same thing, just different hues... Kinda like "maroon" and "burgandy"....

Answer 4

Not really. Faith is just a word used to romanticize the mental shortcut of assumption.