Yeah I agree. If someone has a bunch of beliefs, and they all hang together in a self-consistent way, that’s a reason to believe that they’re correct, other things equal. (UPDATE: I’m saying it’s a pro tanto reason—obviously it’s not a proof of correctness!)
This applies to both little things—if you offer a bunch of claims and definitions about how capacitors work, and they all hang together in a self-consistent way, that’s a reason to take those claims and definitions seriously—and big things—if you offer a whole worldview, including very basic things like how do we interpret observations and make predictions and what’s the nature of reality etc., and everything in it hangs together in a self-consistent way, then that’s a reason to take that worldview seriously.
I’m not sure I agree on this. Pretty much all logical arguments hang together in a self-consident way but that does not ensure they are true conclusions. This seems to be a confusion between valid and true.
I think what self-consistency means is that one needs to dig deeper into the details of the underlying premises to know if you have a true conclusion. The inconsistent argument just tells us we should not rely on that argument but doesn’t really tell us if the conclusion is true or not.
I edited to clarify that “reason to believe that they’re correct, other things equal” and “reason to take seriously” is meant in the sense of “a pro tanto reason” not “an incontrovertible proof”. Sorry, I thought that was obvious. (Note that it was also explained in the OP.)
To give some examples:
If you ask a crackpot physicist and a real physicist to each define 10 electromagnetism-related terms and then make 20 substantive claims using those terms, I would bet that the crackpot has a higher probability of saying multiple things that contradict each other. (Not a 100% probability, just higher.)
…and if the crackpot physicist really said only things that hung together perfectly and self-consistently, including after follow-up questions, then I would start to entertain possibilities like “maybe they’re describing true things but starting from idiosyncratic nonstandard definitions?” or “maybe they’re consistently describing a certain approximation to electromagnetism?” etc.
Likewise, I would bet on myself over a biblical literalist to be able to make lots of complex claims about the nature of the universe, and humanity, etc., including follow-up questions, in a way that hangs together without anything being internally inconsistent.
Yeah I agree. If someone has a bunch of beliefs, and they all hang together in a self-consistent way, that’s a reason to believe that they’re correct, other things equal. (UPDATE: I’m saying it’s a pro tanto reason—obviously it’s not a proof of correctness!)
This applies to both little things—if you offer a bunch of claims and definitions about how capacitors work, and they all hang together in a self-consistent way, that’s a reason to take those claims and definitions seriously—and big things—if you offer a whole worldview, including very basic things like how do we interpret observations and make predictions and what’s the nature of reality etc., and everything in it hangs together in a self-consistent way, then that’s a reason to take that worldview seriously.
I’m not sure I agree on this. Pretty much all logical arguments hang together in a self-consident way but that does not ensure they are true conclusions. This seems to be a confusion between valid and true.
I think what self-consistency means is that one needs to dig deeper into the details of the underlying premises to know if you have a true conclusion. The inconsistent argument just tells us we should not rely on that argument but doesn’t really tell us if the conclusion is true or not.
I edited to clarify that “reason to believe that they’re correct, other things equal” and “reason to take seriously” is meant in the sense of “a pro tanto reason” not “an incontrovertible proof”. Sorry, I thought that was obvious. (Note that it was also explained in the OP.)
To give some examples:
If you ask a crackpot physicist and a real physicist to each define 10 electromagnetism-related terms and then make 20 substantive claims using those terms, I would bet that the crackpot has a higher probability of saying multiple things that contradict each other. (Not a 100% probability, just higher.)
…and if the crackpot physicist really said only things that hung together perfectly and self-consistently, including after follow-up questions, then I would start to entertain possibilities like “maybe they’re describing true things but starting from idiosyncratic nonstandard definitions?” or “maybe they’re consistently describing a certain approximation to electromagnetism?” etc.
Likewise, I would bet on myself over a biblical literalist to be able to make lots of complex claims about the nature of the universe, and humanity, etc., including follow-up questions, in a way that hangs together without anything being internally inconsistent.