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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   27862 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of December 26, 2022

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Beliefs aim at truth. When we are speaking, we are very rarely concerned with truth or aiming at truth. Consequently we rarely speak about our beliefs. John wants to impress his girlfriend, your sister wants to feel like she's part of a movement, and your father wants to express his aesthetic repulsion for Islam. I don't think any of this requires newfangled S-Dispositions. The causes of S-Dispositions seem more basic/important. John "had a strong disposition to agree to statements like 'Meat is murder'" because he desired to impress. The desire explains the action, the S-Disposition isn't needed.

Also, I know it's standard for academic philosophy, but I think you wrote 5x more than necessary to explain your point. That said, I find belief fascinating and haven't read anything in a while, so thanks for the interesting post.

The desire explains the action, the S-Disposition isn't needed.

I'm open to the idea that S-dispositions may be ultimately analyzable in terms of more basic mental states (desires, beliefs, etc.), but I'd say that our current vocabulary for the mind systematically confuses belief-driven assertions by assertions that are generated by social/contextual factors and are consequently subject to different norms. Having a distinctive bit of terminology for the cluster of causes of the second kind of assertion is helpful in itself and may remove confusion, even if it (as it may turn out) we find that this cluster of causes can be analysed in more basic terms.

Also, I know it's standard for academic philosophy, but I think you wrote 5x more than necessary to explain your point.

Heh, well, that's true and fair, but the methods of analytic philosophy are (or should be) to aim to be absolutely clear about your commitments, minimise ambiguity, and lay out all the steps of your reasoning, which can often lead to being a bit long-winded.

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