Philosophy Now Forum

Terrapin Station wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:41 pm So for example, some good reasons to believe that my car is parked on York Street include that:

(1) I parked my car on York Street yesterday,
(2) My memory seems to be working fine so far today,
(3) I knew at the time I parked that there were no temporary "No Parking" signs there
(4) I have no particular reason to believe that it's likely that my car would have been stolen overnight

There are other reasons, but those are some examples of reasons that I consider good to believe that my car is parked on York Street (and hence why that's where I'll head shortly when I need to go to my car)

Some bad reasons to believe that my car is parked on York Street include that:

(1) Many zoos have monkeys
(2) I parked on York Street many times last year

Skepdick wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:38 pm Nobody needs any reasons for their beliefs. You can believe what you believe because you can and you want to and that's that.

Skepdick wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:42 pm

Terrapin Station wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:41 pm So for example, some good reasons to believe that my car is parked on York Street include that:

(1) I parked my car on York Street yesterday,
(2) My memory seems to be working fine so far today,
(3) I knew at the time I parked that there were no temporary "No Parking" signs there
(4) I have no particular reason to believe that it's likely that my car would have been stolen overnight

There are other reasons, but those are some examples of reasons that I consider good to believe that my car is parked on York Street (and hence why that's where I'll head shortly when I need to go to my car)

Some bad reasons to believe that my car is parked on York Street include that:

(1) Many zoos have monkeys
(2) I parked on York Street many times last year

If my car is actually parked on York Street then who cares what the reasons are for believing it?

Terrapin Station wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:43 pm Sure.
You seem to have forgotten that I'm giving MY criteria for "good reasons." Ultimately it's because "that's how my brain works."

Terrapin Station wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:44 pm In order to head to York Street rather than elsewhere when I need to drive in a bit, I need to have a belief about where my car is parked. It's more useful to have a belief that's likely to be correct, no?

Skepdick wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:44 pm

Terrapin Station wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:43 pm Sure.
You seem to have forgotten that I'm giving MY criteria for "good reasons." Ultimately it's because "that's how my brain works."

I didn't ask you for any criteria. You volunteered those.

In an inter-personal context.

So I am going to interpret them as moral claims.

Terrapin Station wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:46 pm As I said, you might interpret any arbitrary thing as a moral claim. That wouldn't make much sense without a lot of explanation unless you were connecting whatever it is to interpersonal behavior (which can include the behavior or one towards oneself) that you consider to be more significant than etiquette.

Skepdick wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:45 pm

Terrapin Station wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:44 pm In order to head to York Street rather than elsewhere when I need to drive in a bit, I need to have a belief about where my car is parked. It's more useful to have a belief that's likely to be correct, no?

Only if you don't have other means of getting to where you want to go.

But if you keep correctly guessing where your car is, despite all the wrong reasons - surely you'll stop caring whether your reasons are "right" or "wrong" ?

Skepdick wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:49 pm

Terrapin Station wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:46 pm As I said, you might interpret any arbitrary thing as a moral claim. That wouldn't make much sense without a lot of explanation unless you were connecting whatever it is to interpersonal behavior (which can include the behavior or one towards oneself) that you consider to be more significant than etiquette.

That's a pretty stupid definition.

You still can't tell me why some reasons are "good reasons" for believing your car is parked at York Street and other reasons are "bad reasons" for believing your car is parked at York Street if your car is actually parked at York Street.

Terrapin Station wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:51 pm I gave you some of the criteria for my evaluations there. If the question is why are those my criteria, again, the answer is ultimately going to be "because that's how my brain works."

Terrapin Station wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:51 pm I gave you some of the criteria for my evaluations there. If the question is why are those my criteria, again, the answer is ultimately going to be "because that's how my brain works."

Skepdick wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:52 pm

Terrapin Station wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:51 pm I gave you some of the criteria for my evaluations there. If the question is why are those my criteria, again, the answer is ultimately going to be "because that's how my brain works."

That's not really an adequate answer?

You have free will.

You can choose bad reasons over good reasons when choosing what to believe.

Why don't you?

Terrapin Station wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:55 pm Again, I can't "choose what to believe." Maybe you can. But that's not how my brain works.

Skepdick wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:55 pm

Terrapin Station wrote: ↑Tue Mar 09, 2021 1:55 pm Again, I can't "choose what to believe." Maybe you can. But that's not how my brain works.

That's impossible.

A person that can't choose has no need or use for criteria such as "good" or "bad".