Is it conceivable that a rational thinking, reasonable person could believe in something that is not proveable

Question

or is this in fact impossible?

Anthony B - Everyone in this room is now dumber for having read your response.........I award you no points and may god have mercy on your soul

Answer 1

This rational thinking, reasonable person would never sacrifice his intellectual and moral integrity by accepting as a fact, that which is inherently unprovable.

In order to become an educated person, two actions are required:
1.) One must study and learn all the truths one is capable of understanding.
2.) One must carefully and thoughtfully reject all information which cannot be verified as a true fact.

It is true that people are able to believe anything they choose. Those who choose to believe unfounded superstitions as if they were fact, undermine their own education and degrade their future ability to make rational decisions.

Answer 2

No. By definition, rationalism is : The theory that the exercise of reason, rather than experience, authority, or spiritual revelation, provides the primary basis for knowledge.

Thus "beliefs" are not rational, neither are "not proveable" objects.

Keep in mind that very few people are capable of true rational thinking: Socrates, Plato and René Descartes were among that selective group.

Also know that "rational", "logical" and "Occam's razor" are not synonyms and none of them are absolute truths.

Answer 3

Sure, sometimes. To me, one of the most interesting examples of this is the placebo effect: the phenomena where someone's health improves because they THINK they have received medical treatment - and they actually haven't.

But in this case, a rational person would likely come out of this experience thinking "I feel better! Cool!", and not, "God made me feel better. "

There's still so much we don't know about how the brain works. We DO know that humans are capable of convincing themselves of many many things which are not , in fact, fact.

Belief and fact are two different things - to rational thinking people, anyway.

Answer 4

Of course this is conceivable and possible, as long as the proof is inside of everyone in different forms. Theists have their proof inside of them and nobody will change their minds about that, because this is a personal experience. Atheists also have their proof inside of them and nobody will change their minds, because this is a personal experience, too. There is no common proof to any one, only personal proof.

Reason and intuition are two different things and some people have one more developed than the other. Each one has a different experience in life, too. That said, nothing's wrong with that.

Peace!

Answer 5

Have you ever been in love? Can you prove it? Sure, you could buy things for a special someone, but that doesn't mean anything except that you have some spare cash lying around. You could marry them, but it might just be for financial security, or to establish an "ownership" over her. You could raise a family with her but that might only be because you just wanted children.
You could be very decent to her, but you might be pretending, as the fact that you will inevitably fight would support that theory.
Can you scoop "love" out of your brain and give it to me on a platter? Could I use a chemical analysis to prove that it is in fact love and not lust or deep friendship?
Everything can be broken down and questioned and in the end you really can't prove anything, however probable it may be.

Answer 6

You apparently don't understand just how limited you
are to "proving" the supernatural through the study
of the natural and then also twisting the study to
your favor for selfish motives. This goes for many
people, even me for a while when I was younger
actually. We don't believe only because we don't
want to, no other reason. This is the truth of the matter.

Answer 7

no,the evidence may be out.it makes sense if there is a creation ,there should be a creator. according to a logical mind things don't just appear out of no where.it does not mean they don't,it just defies logic.we create cars,bread,money,etc.,so how did other things appear?but on the other side of the argument ,who created God,or the creator of the creator of God.the truth is we just dont know,so why keep fighting each other over this issue.go on to something else

Answer 8

Sure, it's possible.

It's called "compartmentalization."

The typical "religious" person is typically rational and reasonable in most matters. When it comes to religion, he simply throws all the rules out the window. He does this because "religion" promises him that his fear of death is unfounded, and that he'll be rewarded for his belief in some postulated "afterlife," while his perceived enemies are punished.

Mark well this type of "thinking":

"It is apparently quite easy to demean, insult, offend and otherwise dismiss those of us who know God. Unfortunately for you, when your time comes to stand before the Great White Throne Judgment, you won't be smirking."

You can't make it any plainer that "The Last Judgment" is a mere childish revenge-fantasy of these people.

Answer 9

Completely conceivable and, in fact, what I am.
The supernatural is not irrational, just improbable. There are things which are still outside our understanding. As yet, the concepts deemed supernatural are not provable, nor are they proved to be impossible. Quantum mechanics can give a possible explanation for telepathy, for instance.

Answer 10

If something is not prove-able, then how do you prove it's impossible?

There are many things that go on inside our heads and hearts that cannot be proven by outside evidence--the one who chooses to believe and the one who chooses not to believe both do it on the basis of what feels true and *seems* more logical--not any black and white "proof."