There is no reason to believe something is true simply because a group of people believe it to be so
Oct. 28, 2015
Part 1
We fully agree with Clifford that there is no reason to believe something is true simply because a group of people believe it to be so. Because we should not believe something to be true when there is no evidence or proof to justify our reasoning, and people choose to believe things based on their knowledge’s and emotions.
There is no evidence or proof to justify our reasoning. This is shown in the ship-owner case, where the ship-owner assumed that because the ship has sailed many times without a problem, the ship would sail again fine. The ship owner chose to believe in the soundness of his ship rather than check to make sure it was sound. The ship-owner has no reason to justify such believe when there was no proof the ship would be able to sail fine. This lead to the deaths of many passengers.
People choose their beliefs based on their emotions and knowledge. Based on the anthropocentric convictions, as humans we base our beliefs on the knowledge regarding the and on our emotions. This is seen in our day-to-day lives where people choose to believe different things. For example, different people have different religions such as, Buddhism, Islam, Christian or Catholicism. In some situations, people would change religions because they don’t agree with their teachings. There is also a part of people believe themselves.
In conclusion, there is no reason to believe something is true simply because a group of believe it to be so. This argument is significant to us because we have to believe something rely on our sufficient evidences and knowledge other than other people’s believes.
Part 2
a.
Premise 1: If there is no evidence to justify our reasoning then we should not conform to other’s beliefs.
Premise 2: People choose other people’s beliefs based on their emotions and knowledge.
Conclusion: Therefore, our reasoningare based on our emotions and knowledge.
i) Answer: This premises could support the conclusion strongly.
ii) Answer: Yes, it can be proved, and verifiable. The reason is that human should give proofs or sufficient evidences to claim their something that they believed rather than a group of people believe something that is true, and also using their knowledge to critical think the thing that they want to believe. .
iii) Answer: The premises and conclusion are not bias because we use evidences to verify this argument. For example, the shipowner thoughts the ship was safe, and it successfully took many trips on sail, but he could not prove this belief because there was no true evidence to think about the ship was safe; therefore, he provided unreasonable claims to support his view. .
iv) Answer: The premises and conclusion are logically consistent, and they do not lead any contradiction. For example, the ship-owner claimed unwarranted statements because he thoughts the God will protect them and not let the ship sank at time. Based on this example, the believe just came up with the ship owner’s belief, and no justification to verify this. Therefore, to believe something that should be prove by sufficient evidence or justifications, and not come from person’s belief or a group people believed that is true.