Faith

[DHodges]

Faith is believing something because the belief itself has utility to you, rather than because of evidence that it is true.

For those with faith, faith is a virtue. It is good to do what has utility. If believing in something makes you happy, or serves some other function, then you should believe in it. (This is the essence of Pascal’s Wager.)

For those without faith, faith is not a virtue. Believing things based on the evidence of them, and only to the extent of that evidence, is a virtue. Self-deception is something to be avoided.

These are both self-consistent world views or value systems.

[Dan Rowden]

People of faith are really only consistent within quite specific parameters. i.e. their faith only means something to them in particular contexts. Outside those contexts they like to play the evidential criteria game. I think this is what makes them different. Those who place value on fact and evidence tend to be consistent with that principle.

[BMcGilly07]

I think faith is nothing more than a declaration of belief, nothing more than a statement. The majority of those who claim to have faith are no different to those who don't have faith if they but remained silent.

[Katy]

I think faith is nothing more than a declaration of belief, nothing more than a statement. The majority of those who claim to have faith are no different to those who don't have faith if they but remained silent.

I think that is true of religion. I'm not sure how true of actual faith it is though. It's just that very few people posess the later.

[BMcGilly07]

I'm not sure how true of actual faith it is though.

In making this distinction, I think it would serve this discussion well if you would define your idea of faith in this context for us.

[Jamesh]

At some point everything we believe in is a matter of faith.
Faith is just another word for gut feeling, namely the feeling that something is right.
Why it feels right all stems from one's subconsciousness, because faith is an emotion, and emotions sort out what is presented to one's consciousness.

We are entirely emotional beings, any truths we have are emotional truths.

[Kelly Jones]

I define faith as the attitude of accepting a "truth", either by

reasoning
or
wishful thinking.



(The "truth" can be that a falsehood is truly false, or an uncertainty is truly uncertain, as well.)

[Katy]

In making this distinction, I think it would serve this discussion well if you would define your idea of faith in this context for us.

Faith in this context is both belief that is acted upon. In otherwords stating "I am a Christian" is different than actually basing your life upon the words of Christ (I think it was Gandhi who said he liked Christ but not Christians). Faith in and of itself is neither good nor bad, but it is distinct in that it affects how a person behaves.

[ChochemV2]

Faith, in my opinion, has to have that questionable aspect. True faith is belief which has been tempered by questions of it's validity otherwise there is nothing to distinguish it from normal belief.

[DHodges]

When we talk about states of the actual, physical world, we are making propositions which have some truth value and are (generally) measurable. One could argue that one should accept propositions based on their likely correspondence to reality because that is the most useful thing to do - a model that corresponds to reality in some sense is more useful than one that does not.

As soon as we talk about what should be done, we are in the realm of values. Is it possible to talk about should without talking about utility?

[DHodges]

At some point everything we believe in is a matter of faith.

From the point of view of truth, then, perhaps it is better to not believe in things.