If there is no empirical evidence either way about a belief, how would one go about destroying it? Beliefs pay rent in anticipated experience, not anticipated actions.
In short, the religious person has adopted a terminal value of being a nicer person, but is confused an thinks this is an instrumental value in pursuit of the “real” terminal value of implementing the desires of a supernatural being. Epistemic rationality has no more to say about this terminal value than about any other terminal value.
If there is no empirical evidence either way about a belief, how would one go about destroying it?
One way you could go about destroying a belief like that is to use Ockham’s Razor: sure, it’s possible that all kinds of unfalsifiable beliefs are true, but why should you waste time in believing any of them, if they have no effect on anything ?
However, if the believer has some subjective evidence for the belief—f.ex., if he personally experienced the gods talking to him—then this attack cannot work. In this case, would you still say that his belief is “indestructible” ?
If there is no empirical evidence either way about a belief, how would one go about destroying it? Beliefs pay rent in anticipated experience, not anticipated actions.
In short, the religious person has adopted a terminal value of being a nicer person, but is confused an thinks this is an instrumental value in pursuit of the “real” terminal value of implementing the desires of a supernatural being. Epistemic rationality has no more to say about this terminal value than about any other terminal value.
One way you could go about destroying a belief like that is to use Ockham’s Razor: sure, it’s possible that all kinds of unfalsifiable beliefs are true, but why should you waste time in believing any of them, if they have no effect on anything ?
However, if the believer has some subjective evidence for the belief—f.ex., if he personally experienced the gods talking to him—then this attack cannot work. In this case, would you still say that his belief is “indestructible” ?