Premium Designs CMS & Blog Designs Logo Templates Facebook Layouts PowerPoint Layouts Ecard Templates Video Templates Design Sale

Super SaleWeb Templates ▪ Graphics ▪ Logos ▪ Icons BUY NOW FOR TODAY'S SPECIAL PRICE

Web Design Graphic Design Template Store Photo Store Software Store Ecommerce Store Hosting Store Travel Store

Belief ▪ Sale

Certainty series
Agnosticism Approximation Belief Certainty Doubt Determinism Epistemology Fallibilism Fatalism Hypothesis Justification Nihilism Probability Scientific theory Skepticism Solipsism Theory Truth Uncertainty
v t e

Belief is the psychological state in which an individual holds a proposition or premise to be true. Dispositional and occurrent belief concerns the contextual activation of the belief into thoughts (reactive of propositions) or ideas (based on the belief's premise).

Belief, knowledge and epistemology [edit]

The terms belief and knowledge are used differently in philosophy.

Epistemology is the philosophical study of knowledge and belief. The primary problem in epistemology is to understand exactly what is needed in order for us to have true knowledge. In a notion derived from Plato's dialogue Theaetetus, philosophy has traditionally defined knowledge as "justified true belief". The relationship between belief and knowledge is that a belief is knowledge if the belief is true, and if the believer has a justification (reasonable and necessarily plausible assertions/evidence/guidance) for believing it is true.

A false belief is not considered to be knowledge, even if it is sincere. A sincere believer in the flat earth theory does not know that the Earth is flat. Later epistemologists, for instance Gettier (1963) and Goldman (1967), have questioned the "justified true belief" definition.

Belief as a psychological theory [edit]

Mainstream psychology and related disciplines have traditionally treated belief as if it were the simplest form of mental representation and therefore one of the building blocks of conscious thought. Philosophers have tended to be more abstract in their analysis, and much of the work examining the viability of the belief concept stems from philosophical analysis.

The concept of belief presumes a subject (the believer) and an object of belief (the proposition). So, like other propositional attitudes, belief implies the existence of mental states and intentionality, both of which are hotly debated topics in the philosophy of mind, whose foundations and relation to brain states are still controversial.

Beliefs are sometimes divided into core beliefs (that are actively thought about) and dispositional beliefs (that may be ascribed to someone who has not thought about the issue). For example, if asked "do you believe tigers wear pink pajamas?" a person might answer that they do not, despite the fact they may never have thought about this situation before.

That a belief is a mental state has been seen by some as contentious. While some have argued that beliefs are represented in the mind as sentence-like constructs, others have gone as far as arguing that there is no consistent or coherent mental representation that underlies our common use of the belief concept and that it is therefore obsolete and should be rejected.

This has important implications for understanding the neuropsychology and neuroscience of belief. If the concept of belief is incoherent, then any attempt to find the underlying neural processes that support it will fail.

Philosopher Lynne Rudder Baker has outlined four main contemporary approaches to belief in her controversial book Saving Belief:

• Our common-sense understanding of belief is correct - Sometimes called the "mental sentence theory," in this conception, beliefs exist as coherent entities, and the way we talk about them in everyday life is a valid basis for scientific endeavour. Jerry Fodor is one of the principal defenders of this point of view.
• Our common-sense understanding of belief may not be entirely correct, but it is close enough to make some useful predictions - This view argues that we will eventually reject the idea of belief as we use it now, but that there may be a correlation between what we take to be a belief when someone says "I believe that snow is white" and how a future theory of psychology will explain this behaviour. Most notably, philosopher Stephen Stich has argued for this particular understanding of belief.
• Our common-sense understanding of belief is entirely wrong and will be completely superseded by a radically different theory that will have no use for the concept of belief as we know it - Known as eliminativism, this view, (most notably proposed by Paul and Patricia Churchland), argues that the concept of belief is like obsolete theories of times past such as the four humours theory of medicine, or the phlogiston theory of combustion. In these cases science hasn't provided us with a more detailed account of these theories, but completely rejected them as valid scientific concepts to be replaced by entirely different accounts. The Churchlands argue that our common-sense concept of belief is similar in that as we discover more about neuroscience and the brain, the inevitable conclusion will be to reject the belief hypothesis in its entirety.
• Our common-sense understanding of belief is entirely wrong; however, treating people, animals, and even computers as if they had beliefs is often a successful strategy - The major proponents of this view, Daniel Dennett and Lynne Rudder Baker, are both eliminativists in that they hold that beliefs are not a scientifically valid concept, but they don't go as far as rejecting the concept of belief as a predictive device. Dennett gives the example of playing a computer at chess. While few people would agree that the computer held beliefs, treating the computer as if it did (e.g. that the computer believes that taking the opposition's queen will give it a considerable advantage) is likely to be a successful and predictive strategy. In this understanding of belief, named by Dennett the intentional stance, belief-based explanations of mind and behaviour are at a different level of explanation and are not reducible to those based on fundamental neuroscience, although both may be explanatory at their own level.

How beliefs are formed [edit]

Psychologists study belief formation and the relationship between beliefs and actions. Beliefs form in a variety of ways:

• We tend to internalise the beliefs of the people around us during childhood. Albert Einstein is often quoted as having said that "Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." Political beliefs depend most strongly on the political beliefs most common in the community where we live. Most individuals believe the religion they were taught in childhood.
• People may adopt the beliefs of a charismatic leader, even if those beliefs fly in the face of all previous beliefs, and produce actions that are clearly not in their own self-interest. Is belief voluntary? Rational individuals need to reconcile their direct reality with any said belief; therefore, if belief is not present or possible, it reflects the fact that contradictions were necessarily overcome using cognitive dissonance.
• Advertising can form or change beliefs through repetition, shock, and association with images of sex, love, beauty, and other strong positive emotions.
• Physical trauma, especially to the head, can radically alter a person's beliefs.

However, even educated people, well aware of the process by which beliefs form, still strongly cling to their beliefs, and act on those beliefs even against their own self-interest. In Anna Rowley's Leadership Theory, she states "You want your beliefs to change. It's proof that you are keeping your eyes open, living fully, and welcoming everything that the world and people around you can teach you." This means that peoples' beliefs should evolve as they gain new experiences.

Belief-in [edit]

To "believe in" someone or something is a distinct concept from "believe-that." There are two types of belief-in:

• Commendatory - an expression of confidence in a person or entity, as in, "I believe in his ability to do the job."
• Existential claim - to claim belief in the existence of an entity or phenomenon with the implied need to justify its claim to existence. It is often used when the entity is not real, or its existence is in doubt. "He believes in witches and ghosts" or "many children believe in Santa Claus" are typical examples.

Delusional beliefs [edit]

Delusions are defined as beliefs in psychiatric diagnostic criteria (for example in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). Psychiatrist and historian G.E. Berrios has challenged the view that delusions are genuine beliefs and instead labels them as "empty speech acts," where affected persons are motivated to express false or bizarre belief statements due to an underlying psychological disturbance. However, the majority of mental health professionals and researchers treat delusions as if they were genuine beliefs.

In Lewis Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass the White Queen says, "Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast." This is often quoted in mockery of the common ability of people to entertain beliefs contrary to fact.

See also [edit]

Notes [edit]

External links [edit]

• Belief entry by Eric Schwitzgebel in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
• How Belief Works Article from Derrick Farnell on the formation of beliefs.
• William Kingdon Clifford. Ethics of Belief Classic essay arguing that beliefs (and the processes that form them) have ethical implications, with counterpoint essay from William James entitled "The Will to Believe".

Links to related articles v t e Epistemology Epistemologists Thomas Aquinas Augustine of Hippo Robert Audi A. J. Ayer George Berkeley Laurence BonJour René Descartes Edmund Gettier Alvin Goldman Nelson Goodman Paul Grice David Hume Immanuel Kant Søren Kierkegaard John Locke G. E. Moore Robert Nozick Alvin Plantinga Plato P. F. Strawson W.V.O. Quine Bertrand Russell Ludwig Wittgenstein Vienna Circle Theories Coherentism Constructivist epistemology Contextualism Determinism Empiricism Evolutionary epistemology Fallibilism Feminist epistemology Foundationalism Genetic epistemology Holism Infinitism Innatism Internalism and externalism Naïve realism Naturalized epistemology Phenomenalism Positivism Reductionism Reliabilism Representative realism Rationalism Skepticism Theory of Forms Transcendental idealism Uniformitarianism Concepts A priori knowledge Analysis Analytic–synthetic distinction Belief Causality Common sense Descriptive knowledge Exploratory thought Gettier problem Justification Knowledge Induction Objectivity Problem of induction Other minds Perception Proposition Regress argument Simplicity Speculative reason Truth more... Related articles Outline of epistemology Alethiology Faith and rationality Formal epistemology Meta-epistemology Philosophy of perception Philosophy of science Social epistemology Portal Category Task Force Stubs Discussion v t e Philosophy   Branches of philosophy Traditional Metaphysics Epistemology Logic Ethics Aesthetics Philosophy of Action Art Being Biology Business Chemistry Computer science Culture Design Dialogue Education Economics Engineering Environment Film Futility Geography Information Healthcare Hermeneutics History Human nature Humor Justice Language Law Literature Mathematics Mind Music Pain Philosophy Physics Politics Psychology Religion Science Sexuality Social science Society Space and time Technology War   Schools of thought in philosophy By era Ancient Western Medieval Renaissance Modern Contemporary Ancient Chinese Agriculturalism Confucianism Legalism Logicians Mohism Chinese naturalism Neotaoism Taoism Yangism Zen Greco-Roman Aristotelianism Cynicism Epicureanism Neoplatonism Peripatetic Platonism Presocratic Pythagoreanism Sophism Stoicism Indian Buddhist Cārvāka Hindu Jain Persian Mazdakism Zoroastrianism Zurvanism 9th – 16th century Christian Europe Scholasticism Renaissance humanism Thomism East Asian Korean Confucianism Rigaku Neo-Confucianism Indian Navya-Nyāya Vishishtadvaita Dvaita Islamic Averroism Avicennism Persian Illuminationism Kalam Sufi Jewish Judeo-Islamic Modern 17th – 19th century Absolute idealism Anarchism Cartesianism Liberalism Dialectical materialism Empiricism Existentialism Hegelianism Idealism Kantianism Kokugaku Marxism Modernism Neo-Kantian (Modern) Neo-Thomism New Confucianism Phenomenology Pragmatism Rationalism Transcendentalism Utilitarianism Contemporary 20th – 21st century Analytic Analytic feminism Consequentialism Experimental philosophy Internalism and Externalism Falsificationism Foundationalism and Coherentism Logical positivism Legal positivism Quinean Naturalism Neo-Kantian (Contemporary) Ordinary language philosophy Quietism Rawlsian Reformed epistemology Postanalytic philosophy Utilitarianism (Contemporary) Neo-Aristotelian Vienna Circle Wittgensteinian Continental Critical theory Deconstruction Existentialism Feminist Frankfurt School Postmodernism Post-structuralism Social constructionism Structuralism Kyoto School more...   Philosophical positions Aesthetics Formalism Institutionalism Aesthetic Response Ethics Consequentialism Egoism Deontology Virtue Free will Compatibilism Determinism Libertarianism Metaphysics Atomism Dualism Monism Naturalism Epistemology Constructivism Empiricism Idealism Particularism Rationalism Skepticism/Nihilism Solipsism Mind Behaviorism Eliminativism Epiphenomenalism Functionalism Normativity Absolutism Particularism Relativism Nihilism Skepticism Universalism Ontology Action Event Process Reality Anti-realism Conceptualism Idealism Materialism Naturalism Nominalism Realism   Philosophy by region Philosophy-related lists By region African Ethiopian Aztec Eastern Chinese Indian Indonesian Iranian Japanese Korean Pakistani Western American British Danish French German Greek Italian Polish Romanian Russian Slovene Lists Outline Index Years Problems Schools Glossary Philosophers Movements Publications Portal Category WikiProject Changes v t e Logic   Overview Academic areas Argumentation theory Axiology Critical thinking Computability theory Formal semantics History of logic Informal logic Logic in computer science Mathematical logic Mathematics Metalogic Metamathematics Model theory Philosophical logic Philosophy Philosophy of logic Philosophy of mathematics Proof theory Set theory Foundations Abduction Analytic truth Antinomy A priori Deduction Definition Description Induction Inference Logical form Logical consequence Logical truth Name Necessity Meaning Paradox Possible world Presupposition Probability Reason Reasoning Reference Semantics Statement Strict implication Substitution Syntax Truth Truth value Validity   Philosophical logic Critical thinking Informal logic Analysis Ambiguity Argument Belief Bias Credibility Evidence Explanation Explanatory power Fact Fallacy Inquiry Opinion Parsimony Premise Propaganda Prudence Reasoning Relevance Rhetoric Rigor Vagueness Theories of deduction Constructivism Dialetheism Fictionalism Finitism Formalism Intuitionism Logical atomism Logicism Nominalism Platonic realism Pragmatism Realism   Metalogic Metamathematics Cantor's theorem Church's theorem Church's thesis Consistency Effective method Foundations of mathematics Gödel's completeness theorem Gödel's incompleteness theorems Soundness Completeness Decidability Interpretation Löwenheim–Skolem theorem Metatheorem Satisfiability Independence Type–token distinction Use–mention distinction   Mathematical logic General Formal language Formation rule Formal system Deductive system Formal proof Formal semantics Well-formed formula Set Element Class Classical logic Axiom Natural deduction Rule of inference Relation Theorem Logical consequence Axiomatic system Type theory Symbol Syntax Theory Traditional logic Proposition Inference Argument Validity Cogency Syllogism Square of opposition Venn diagram Propositional calculus Boolean logic Boolean functions Propositional calculus Propositional formula Logical connectives Truth tables Predicate logic First-order Quantifiers Predicate Second-order Monadic predicate calculus Set theory Set Empty set Enumeration Extensionality Finite set Function Subset Power set Countable set Recursive set Domain Range Ordered pair Uncountable set Model theory Model Interpretation Non-standard model Finite model theory Truth value Validity Proof theory Formal proof Deductive system Formal system Theorem Logical consequence Rule of inference Syntax Computability theory Recursion Recursive set Recursively enumerable set Decision problem Church–Turing thesis Computable function Primitive recursive function   Non-classical logic Modal logic Alethic Axiologic Deontic Doxastic Epistemic Temporal Intuitionism Intuitionistic logic Constructive analysis Heyting arithmetic Intuitionistic type theory Constructive set theory Fuzzy logic Degree of truth Fuzzy rule Fuzzy set Fuzzy finite element Fuzzy set operations Substructural logic Structural rule Relevance logic Linear logic Paraconsistent logic Dialetheism Description logic Ontology Ontology language   Logicians Anderson Aristotle Averroes Avicenna Bain Barwise Bernays Boole Boolos Cantor Carnap Church Chrysippus Curry De Morgan Frege Geach Gentzen Gödel Hilbert Kleene Kripke Leibniz Löwenheim Peano Peirce Putnam Quine Russell Schröder Scotus Skolem Smullyan Tarski Turing Whitehead William of Ockham Wittgenstein Zermelo   Lists Topics Index of logic articles Mathematical logic Boolean algebra Set theory Other Logicians Rules of inference Paradoxes Fallacies Logic symbols   Common logical symbols &    ∨    ¬    ~    →    ⊃    ≡    |    ∀    ∃    ⊤    ⊥    ⊢    ⊨    ∴    ∵ Portal Category Outline WikiProject Talk changes

Popular search requests

Belief is an object of interest for many people. For example, the people often search for Belief website, Belief blog, Belief online, Belief information, Belief photo, Belief picture, Belief video, Belief movie, Belief history, Belief news, Belief facts, Belief description, Belief detailed info, Belief features, Belief manual, Belief instructions, Belief comparison, Belief book, Belief story, Belief article, Belief review, Belief feedbacks, Belief selection, Belief data, Belief address, Belief phone number, download Belief, Belief reference, Belief wikipedia, Belief facebook, Belief twitter, Belief 2013, Belief 2014, Belief in the United States, Belief USA, Belief US, Belief in United Kingdom, Belief UK, Belief in Canada, Belief in Australia, etc.

Belief is also an object of commercial interest. For example, many people are interested in Belief offers, Belief buy, Belief sell, Belief sale, Belief discounts, discounted Belief, Belief coupon, Belief promo code, Belief order, to order Belief online, to buy Belief, how much for Belief, Belief price, Belief cost, Belief price list, Belief tariffs, Belief rates, Belief prices, Belief delivery, Belief store, Belief online store, Belief online shop, inexpensive Belief, cheap Belief, Belief for free, free Belief, used Belief, and so on.

Information source: wikipedia.org

Do you want to know more? Look at the full version of the Belief article.

HOT DESIGNS ▪ Premium designs ▪ Designs by country ▪ Designs by U.S. state ▪ Most popular designs ▪ Newest, last added designs ▪ Unique designs ▪ Cheap, budget designs ▪ Design super sale DESIGNS BY THEME ▪ Accounting, audit designs ▪ Adult, sex designs ▪ African designs ▪ American, U.S. designs ▪ Animals, birds, pets designs ▪ Agricultural, farming designs ▪ Architecture, building designs ▪ Army, navy, military designs ▪ Audio & video designs ▪ Automobiles, car designs ▪ Books, e-book designs ▪ Beauty salon, SPA designs ▪ Black, dark designs ▪ Business, corporate designs ▪ Charity, donation designs ▪ Cinema, movie, film designs ▪ Computer, hardware designs ▪ Celebrity, star fan designs ▪ Children, family designs ▪ Christmas, New Year's designs ▪ Green, St. Patrick designs ▪ Dating, matchmaking designs ▪ Design studio, creative designs ▪ Educational, student designs ▪ Electronics designs ▪ Entertainment, fun designs ▪ Fashion, wear designs ▪ Finance, financial designs ▪ Fishing & hunting designs ▪ Flowers, floral shop designs ▪ Food, nutrition designs ▪ Football, soccer designs ▪ Gambling, casino designs ▪ Games, gaming designs ▪ Gifts, gift designs ▪ Halloween, carnival designs ▪ Hotel, resort designs ▪ Industry, industrial designs ▪ Insurance, insurer designs ▪ Interior, furniture designs ▪ International designs ▪ Internet technology designs ▪ Jewelry, jewellery designs ▪ Job & employment designs ▪ Landscaping, garden designs ▪ Law, juridical, legal designs ▪ Love, romantic designs ▪ Marketing designs ▪ Media, radio, TV designs ▪ Medicine, health care designs ▪ Mortgage, loan designs ▪ Music, musical designs ▪ Night club, dancing designs ▪ Photography, photo designs ▪ Personal, individual designs ▪ Politics, political designs ▪ Real estate, realty designs ▪ Religious, church designs ▪ Restaurant, cafe designs ▪ Retirement, pension designs ▪ Science, scientific designs ▪ Sea, ocean, river designs ▪ Security, protection designs ▪ Social, cultural designs ▪ Spirit, meditational designs ▪ Software designs ▪ Sports, sporting designs ▪ Telecommunication designs ▪ Travel, vacation designs ▪ Transport, logistic designs ▪ Web hosting designs ▪ Wedding, marriage designs ▪ White, light designs E-COMMERCE DESIGNS ▪ Magento store designs ▪ OpenCart store designs ▪ PrestaShop store designs ▪ CRE Loaded store designs ▪ Jigoshop store designs ▪ VirtueMart store designs ▪ osCommerce store designs ▪ Zen Cart store designs CMS DESIGNS ▪ Flash CMS designs ▪ Joomla CMS designs ▪ Mambo CMS designs ▪ Drupal CMS designs ▪ WordPress blog designs ▪ Forum designs ▪ phpBB forum designs ▪ PHP-Nuke portal designs ANIMATED WEBSITE DESIGNS ▪ Flash CMS designs ▪ Silverlight animated designs ▪ Silverlight intro designs ▪ Flash animated designs ▪ Flash intro designs ▪ XML Flash designs ▪ Flash 8 animated designs ▪ Dynamic Flash designs ▪ Flash animated photo albums ▪ Dynamic Swish designs ▪ Swish animated designs ▪ jQuery animated designs WEBSITE DESIGNS ▪ WebMatrix Razor designs ▪ HTML 5 designs ▪ Web 2.0 designs ▪ 3-color variation designs ▪ 3D, three-dimensional designs ▪ Artwork, illustrated designs ▪ Clean, simple designs ▪ CSS based website designs ▪ Full design packages ▪ Full ready websites ▪ Portal designs ▪ Stretched, full screen designs ▪ Universal, neutral designs CORPORATE ID DESIGNS ▪ Corporate identity sets ▪ Logo layouts, logo designs ▪ Logotype sets, logo packs ▪ PowerPoint, PTT designs ▪ Facebook themes VIDEO, SOUND & MUSIC ▪ Video e-cards ▪ After Effects video intros ▪ Special video effects ▪ Music tracks, music loops ▪ Stock music bank GRAPHICS & CLIPART ▪ Pro clipart & illustrations, $19/year ▪ 5,000+ icons by subscription ▪ Icons, pictograms

Belief Sale - Buy now!