But most people clearly DON’T treat these things as meaningless speech acts.
How do I know this? Because if you say something like “Right, because that’s just a meaningless speech act” in response to some absurdity of religion like “virgin birth” or “transsubstantiation”, people will get VERY ANGRY at you. They will not respond as though they are playing a game of words, they will respond as though you have accused them of lying. And if improper beliefs are precisely non-beliefs trying to make themselves look like beliefs, then you HAVE just accused them of lying.
The only way this comment makes sense to me is if I assume that you believe that (for example) humans reliably fail to become angry when their tribal attire is challenged, unless that tribal attire also happens to be a meaningful belief.
Do you in fact believe that?
If so, can you expand on your reasons for believing that? It seems implausible to me, and inconsistent with my observations of human behavior.
But most people clearly DON’T treat these things as meaningless speech acts.
How do I know this? Because if you say something like “Right, because that’s just a meaningless speech act” in response to some absurdity of religion like “virgin birth” or “transsubstantiation”, people will get VERY ANGRY at you. They will not respond as though they are playing a game of words, they will respond as though you have accused them of lying. And if improper beliefs are precisely non-beliefs trying to make themselves look like beliefs, then you HAVE just accused them of lying.
The only way this comment makes sense to me is if I assume that you believe that (for example) humans reliably fail to become angry when their tribal attire is challenged, unless that tribal attire also happens to be a meaningful belief.
Do you in fact believe that?
If so, can you expand on your reasons for believing that? It seems implausible to me, and inconsistent with my observations of human behavior.
The only way this comment makes sense to me is if it was written without reference to its grandparent.