A set theory analysis of belief, knowledge and reality

Belief

Acceptance of a proposition as trueNot subject to willJustification may be flawedDegrees of certainty

“Believe in” vs. “Believe that”“Believe in” is shorthand, imprecise speech

(implicature) for a more complex “Believe that”

Knowledge

Belief to a high degree of certaintyAbsolute certainty is a generally useless

conceptSubjective and vague delineation between

believe and knowJustified True Belief (JTB) is flawedKnowledge must be a subset of belief

Real

Proposition is actually trueVerificationManifestation

Reality thought experimentsMatrix, Brain-in-a-vat, New Evil Demon

○ Forced to deal with this reality until proven otherwise

Shared perception

Logical “A” and “⌐A”

A

⌐A

“X exists”

X exists

X does not exist

“X committed crime”

X committed

X did not commit

What does “⌐A” include?

A

⌐A Z

R

E

What does “⌐A” include?

Alphabet

⌐Alphabet

Z

R

E

A

Believe vs. Real

Belief has no bearing on “real” statusReal value has 2 possibilitiesBelief can reject both (noncommittal)Default position expressed in terms of “A”

and not “⌐A”

“Believe” is the propositionBelieve guilty proposition has two positionsBelieve not guilty proposition also has two

Believe Guilty?

Believe Guilty

Believe Not Guilty

Believe Innocent

Knowledge as a subset of Belief Degree of certainty

Subjective, yet consensus is required for shared understanding

Still qualifies as “Belief”

Knowledge as a subset of Belief

Believe

Know

Agnosticism and knowledge Rejection of “gnosticism”

Rejection of spiritual/mystical knowledgeGeneral rejection of knowledge

○ Seems dependent on absolute certaintyUnknowable

○ Unfounded assertionCurrently unknown

○ Still dependent on absolute certainty or a degree of certainty that isn’t consistent with usage of “knowledge”

Graphic Agnosticism

Agnostic (knowledge)

Gnostic

Agnosticism as non-belief Rejects both belief position

Appears as “middle ground”Label is misused, but accepted in the

colloquial sense

What question is answered by the middle ground?

Agnosticism as non-belief

Agnostic (Belief)

Not guilty and Not innocent?

Guilty Innocent

Why does belief matter?

Beliefs inform actions Beliefs inform other beliefs

Worldview understanding is shaped based on what we already accept and understand

What do I believe? Common reality

A matter of practicality Science, evidence and reason as a path to

understanding Decision-making skills based on reality Exploration of possibilities leads to

understanding of plausibility Nothing is sacred Some ideas are ridiculous Beliefs matter