From the common usage of the word “I believe” referred to in this context I think you could generate an interpretation as follows:
When a person says I believe that something is going to happen
They’re communicating their degree of belief to that something is going to happen, are not as confident
They’re expecting that particular scenario to occur more likely than other scenarios, but not for certain
They’re concentrating on that particular anticipation and expect it to happen regardless of other plausible scenarios
They’re acknowledging their current state of evidence and if presented further evidence, ready to change their opinion
As opposed to
When a person says it’s true that something is going to happen
They’re communicating their degree of belief that something is going to happen, and are comparatively confident
They’re expecting that particular scenario to occur and are confident other scenarios are excluded
They’re concentrating on several possibilities, but deductively find only one plausible scenario
They’re acknowleding their current state of evidence, but expect further evidence to just confirm their current belief
I don’t intend these as epistemological descriptions, but rather social descriptions on how people are communicating their beliefs and their stances by choosing to say true instead of belief. To create an example:
A: I believe the asteroid F4-K3 will miss the earth approximately at distance 750.000km December 25th 2012.
B: The asteroid F4-K3 will miss the earth approximately at distance 750.000km December 25th 2012.
C: It’s true that the asteroid F4-K3 will miss the earth approximately at distance 750.000km December 25th 2012.
In this case it would seem to me that the common way to interpret A as opposed to B is that A is uncertain and B is confident, and C using the word true seems not to really add anything except it does seem to put extra emphasis on the confidence in the issue. So for an example if someone says A, C seems like a more natural response than B. You think that’s gonna happen? Yeah it will happen, I’m confident about it.
While when saying “I think” you’re communicating different type of uncertainity, that is: To say “I believe” in contrast to “I think” seems to be like picking favourites while “I think” seems to communicate “I’m personally reasoning that way”
This though was more about commonplace social use of language rather than epistemology, and anyway that’s just what I think.
From the common usage of the word “I believe” referred to in this context I think you could generate an interpretation as follows:
When a person says I believe that something is going to happen
They’re communicating their degree of belief to that something is going to happen, are not as confident
They’re expecting that particular scenario to occur more likely than other scenarios, but not for certain
They’re concentrating on that particular anticipation and expect it to happen regardless of other plausible scenarios
They’re acknowledging their current state of evidence and if presented further evidence, ready to change their opinion
As opposed to
When a person says it’s true that something is going to happen
They’re communicating their degree of belief that something is going to happen, and are comparatively confident
They’re expecting that particular scenario to occur and are confident other scenarios are excluded
They’re concentrating on several possibilities, but deductively find only one plausible scenario
They’re acknowleding their current state of evidence, but expect further evidence to just confirm their current belief
I don’t intend these as epistemological descriptions, but rather social descriptions on how people are communicating their beliefs and their stances by choosing to say true instead of belief. To create an example:
A: I believe the asteroid F4-K3 will miss the earth approximately at distance 750.000km December 25th 2012.
B: The asteroid F4-K3 will miss the earth approximately at distance 750.000km December 25th 2012.
C: It’s true that the asteroid F4-K3 will miss the earth approximately at distance 750.000km December 25th 2012.
In this case it would seem to me that the common way to interpret A as opposed to B is that A is uncertain and B is confident, and C using the word true seems not to really add anything except it does seem to put extra emphasis on the confidence in the issue. So for an example if someone says A, C seems like a more natural response than B. You think that’s gonna happen? Yeah it will happen, I’m confident about it.
While when saying “I think” you’re communicating different type of uncertainity, that is: To say “I believe” in contrast to “I think” seems to be like picking favourites while “I think” seems to communicate “I’m personally reasoning that way”
This though was more about commonplace social use of language rather than epistemology, and anyway that’s just what I think.