[ExI] The Last Exorcism. Philosophies of earthly immortality

[Stathis Papaioannou]

2009/5/23 painlord2k at libero.it <painlord2k at libero.it>:

>> It's like children being told they have to behave well so that Santa
>> Claus will bring them a present. It's right to behave well and the
>> Santa Claus belief may be helpful in producing this state of affairs,
>> but this has no bearing on the question of the existence of Santa
>> Claus.
>
> The problem is that, without the believing, the utility of the belief is
> null.

Yes, but the belief can still have utility and be false, as per my
Santa Claus example.

> This is like the problem with trust:
> you can not obtain the trust of people if they believe you only want their
> trust. They will trust you when they will believe your actions are motivated
> by anything else apart the gaining of trust.
>
> So, anything mandated to build or support trust is often only able to
> destroy trust in the long run. Look Obama and Chrysler senior creditors.

If I trust someone, then I believe that they believe what they are
telling me. But whether there is a correlation between their belief
and reality is a different question.


-- 
Stathis Papaioannou