Can you choose what you believe?

[fkusumot]

Final-Fan said:

fkusumot said:
A lot of interesting responses. Just to be clear, the question isn't "Can your beliefs change?", the question is "Can you choose your beliefs?" It's two very different things.

Part of whatever your own personal answer to the question is will be determined by what you think a "belief" is. For myself a belief is something much different than a preference or an opinion.

Thanks for all the thoughtful debate.

When you say opinion, do you mean it in the sense close to preference or in the sense of "I think this is true but there is room for doubt"?

If the latter, do you think the difference between belief and opinion is more than a matter of degree? I haven't given it considered the matter at length but I more or less considered those words to describe different parts of a spectrum that doesn't have clear breaks from one part to another. Beliefs are more deeply held convictions and/or closer to the core of one's personality, while opinions are less tightly held and/or much less vital to one's self. (Preference is a separate category IMO.)

I would like to know what your thoughts on this are.

Well, you called me out there. I won't go into detail too much about the history. It was one of the major subjects in Plato's "Theaetetus" (over 2000 years old). Myself I hew very closely to the strangers view.

- There is "preference" which can also be an "opinion" such as the typical "chocolate or vanilla" question.
- There is "belief" which is conditional, neither true nor false all the time, or even necessarily referring to things that are real or unreal.
- There is "true belief" which is what is generally called knowledge.

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What I find rather amusing is that some people are arguing that it's possible to intentionally choose to be delusional. Think about that, how can it be delusional if you know it's untrue?