Re: What are your criteria to accept something as true?


romain_a2 kirjoitti:

I suggest a small experiment to become conscious of our thought process
that guides our search for truth:

I don't know if any of this is relevant WRT finding out scientific
truths but let's see.

I will make some statements, and ask you whether they are true or
false, and why, and if you don't know, ask the questions that could
enable you to make a statement.

1- I think before I write.

Well, generally people do think all the time. It doesn't mean that what
they write always makes sense or that they shouldn't have known better.
When making a judgment on the basis of strangers' posts on the internet
patterns tend to emerge and some people give an impression of being
more thoughtful than others.

2- I don't like to ask questions to people.

Well, if you didn't would you have asked this one? It could be you
don't like asking questions but have some agenda which forces you do
so, but I think the best bet is that people who choose to ask questions
they don't have to ask gain some satisfaction from it, for one reason
or another.

3- I speak french.

Dunno, lots of people speak French at least a little bit so I see no
reason why it couldn't be true. Your nick is a French word, you've used
some prepositions as if you're not a native English speaker and you
write the name of the language with a small initial like they do
francais, but that's not conclusive evidence.

4- I have a brother.

Lots of people have brothers, no reason why it couldn't be true.
There's usually not enough information to ascertain people's
relationships for a fact over the internet, but if someone says he has
a brother I usually believe him, unless I have reason to think he's
lying. What would he benefit from misleading me into thinking he has a
brother?

5- I've been to Europe.

Again, it could be true but I have no evidence at this point. The claim
is so vague it's hard to nail down anyway. Since this is phrased as a
thought experiment to distinguish true and false claims, some of these
are likely to be false. If you said you've been to Sweden and clearly
don't know the first thing about Sweden I might not believe you, but
then again it might be you were there as a baby and don't remember
anything about it.

6- I am a Muslim.

See above. If someone posts a lot and writes about Mohammed and Allah
as if he believes in them I tend to think he's probably a Muslim unless
there is something very trollish about him.

7- I don't like arguing.

This is tricky, as it's somewhat down to different definitions and
different perspectives people have. What constitutes an argument? Some
people think a polite disagreement is arguing. Who can be said to like
arguing? You might say and even think you don't like arguing but if you
give people the impression that you argue all the time they won't
believe you. Some people seem to like insulting and discrediting others
but resent people disagreeing with them and leave in a huff trying to
make others feel guilty for hurting their emotions if their silly
claims are debunked. Do they or do they not like arguing? As for me, if
someone goes out of his way to set up situations where people will
start arguing with him, I'd probably bet he likes it, or at least needs
it somehow.

.

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