W K Clifford And The Ethics Of Belief

W K Clifford And The Ethics Of Belief Book in PDF, ePub and Kindle version is available to download in english. Read online anytime anywhere directly from your device. Click on the download button below to get a free pdf file of W K Clifford And The Ethics Of Belief book. This book definitely worth reading, it is an incredibly well-written.

W. K. Clifford and "The Ethics of Belief"

Author : Timothy Madigan
Publisher : Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Page : 200 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2008-12-18
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781443802635

Get Book

W. K. Clifford and "The Ethics of Belief" by Timothy Madigan Pdf

W. K. Clifford (1845-1879) was a noted mathematician and popularizer of science in the Victorian era. Although he made major contributions in the field of geometry, he is perhaps best known for a short essay he wrote in 1876, entitled "The Ethics of Belief", in which he argued that "It is wrong always, everywhere, and for any one, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence." Delivered initially as an address to the august Metaphysical Society (whose members included such luminaries as Alfred Lord Tennyson, William Gladstone, T. H. Huxley, and assorted scientists, clerics and philosophers of differing metaphysical views, "The Ethics of Belief" became a rallying cry for freethinkers and a bone of contention for religious apologists. It continues to be discussed today as an exemplar of what is called 'evidentialism', a key point in current philosophy of religion debates over justification of knowledge claims. In this book, Timothy J. Madigan examines the continuing relevance of "The Ethics of Belief" to epistemological and ethical concerns. He places the essay within the historical context, especially the so-called 'Victorian Crisis of Faith' of which Clifford was a key player. Clifford's own life and interests are dealt with as well, along with the responses to his essay by his contemporaries, the most famous of which was William James's "The Will to Believe." Madigan provides an overview of modern-day critics of Cliffordian evidentialism, as well as examining thinkers who were positively influenced by him, including Bertrand Russell, who was perhaps Clifford's most influential successor as an advocate of intellectual honesty. The book ends with a defense of "The Ethics of Belief" from a virtue-theory approach, and argues that Clifford utilizes an "as-if" methodology to encourage intellectual inquiry and communal truth-seeking.' The Ethics of Belief' continues to provoke and stimulate controversy, which was perhaps Clifford's own fondest hope, although he had no right to believe it would do so.

The Ethics of Belief and Other Essays

Author : William Kingdon Clifford
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 172 pages
File Size : 49,9 Mb
Release : 1999
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : UVA:X004253021

Get Book

The Ethics of Belief and Other Essays by William Kingdon Clifford Pdf

"It is wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence." -- W. K. Clifford The above forthright assertion of mathematician and educator W. K. Clifford (1845-1879) in his famous essay "The Ethics of Belief" drew an immediate response from Victorian-era critics, who took issue with his reasoned and brilliantly presented attack on beliefs "not founded on fair inquiry." An advocate of evolutionary theory, Clifford recognized that working hypotheses and assumptions are necessary for belief formation and that testing and assessing one's beliefs in light of new evidence strengthens those worthy of being held. "The Ethics of Belief" is presented here in complete form, along with an insightful biographical introduction by editor Timothy J. Madigan. Also included are four other noteworthy essays by Clifford: "On the Aims and Instruments of Scientific Thought," "Right and Wrong," "The Ethics of Religion," and "The Influence upon Morality of a Decline in Religious Belief."

Evidentialism and the Will to Believe

Author : Scott Aikin
Publisher : A&C Black
Page : 241 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2014-07-17
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781623560171

Get Book

Evidentialism and the Will to Believe by Scott Aikin Pdf

Work on the norms of belief in epistemology regularly starts with two touchstone essays: W.K. Clifford's "The Ethics of Belief" and William James's "The Will to Believe." Discussing the central themes from these seminal essays, Evidentialism and the Will to Believe explores the history of the ideas governing evidentialism. As well as Clifford's argument from the examples of the shipowner, the consequences of credulity and his defence against skepticism, this book tackles James's conditions for a genuine option and the structure of the will to believe case as a counter-example to Clifford's evidentialism. Exploring the question of whether James's case successfully counters Clifford's evidentialist rule for belief, this study captures the debate between those who hold that one should proportion belief to evidence and those who hold that the evidentialist norm is too restrictive. More than a sustained explication of the essays, it also surveys recent epistemological arguments to evidentialism. But it is by bringing Clifford and James into fruitful conversation for the first time that this study presents a clearer history of the issues and provides an important reconstruction of the notion of evidence in contemporary epistemology.

The Ethics of Belief

Author : A. J. Burger,William Kingdon Clifford,William James
Publisher : CreateSpace
Page : 112 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 2008-08
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 1438251769

Get Book

The Ethics of Belief by A. J. Burger,William Kingdon Clifford,William James Pdf

The classic discussion between William Kingdon Clifford (The Ethics of Belief) and William James (The Will to Believe), with added explanatory footnotes, and further commentary by A.J. Burger (An Examination of "The Will to Believe"). Never before have these essays appeared together in their complete and unabridged forms, with added footnotes, in an inexpensive edition. The recent essay by A.J. Burger, published for the first time, provides a thorough and unflinching examination of James' The Will to Believe. "People have long been interested in the circumstances under which it is appropriate to believe. Often, the source of this interest is the desire to believe something for which one has insufficient evidence. Extensive excerpts ... are often reprinted in anthologies. This is sufficient proof of the enduring interest in this subject, and of the importance of these particular essays." -from the Preface

The Ethics of Belief and Beyond

Author : Sebastian Schmidt,Gerhard Ernst
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 270 pages
File Size : 41,9 Mb
Release : 2020-04-03
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781000062007

Get Book

The Ethics of Belief and Beyond by Sebastian Schmidt,Gerhard Ernst Pdf

This volume provides a framework for approaching and understanding mental normativity. It presents cutting-edge research on the ethics of belief as well as innovative research beyond the normativity of belief—and towards an ethics of mind. By moving beyond traditional issues of epistemology the contributors discuss the most current ideas revolving around rationality, responsibility, and normativity. The book’s chapters are divided into two main parts. Part I discusses contemporary issues surrounding the normativity of belief. The essays here cover topics such as control over belief and its implication for the ethics of belief, the role of the epistemic community for the possibility of epistemic normativity, responsibility for believing, doxastic partiality in friendship, the structure and content of epistemic norms, and the norms for suspension of judgment. In Part II the focus shifts from the practical dimensions of belief to the normativity and rationality of other mental states—especially blame, passing thoughts, fantasies, decisions, and emotions. These essays illustrate how we might approach an ethics of mind by focusing not only on belief, but also more generally on debates about responsibility and rationality, as well as on normative questions concerning other mental states or attitudes. The Ethics of Belief and Beyond paves the way towards an ethics of mind by building on and contributing to recent philosophical discussions in the ethics of belief and the normativity of other mental phenomena. It will be of interest to upper-level students and researchers working in epistemology, ethics, philosophy of action, philosophy of mind, and moral psychology.

Belief's Own Ethics

Author : Jonathan E. Adler
Publisher : MIT Press
Page : 388 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2006-01-20
Category : Psychology
ISBN : 0262261375

Get Book

Belief's Own Ethics by Jonathan E. Adler Pdf

The fundamental question of the ethics of belief is "What ought one to believe?" According to the traditional view of evidentialism, the strength of one's beliefs should be proportionate to the evidence. Conventional ways of defending and challenging evidentialism rely on the idea that what one ought to believe is a matter of what it is rational, prudent, ethical, or personally fulfilling to believe. Common to all these approaches is that they look outside of belief itself to determine what one ought to believe. In this book Jonathan Adler offers a strengthened version of evidentialism, arguing that the ethics of belief should be rooted in the concept of belief—that evidentialism is belief's own ethics. A key observation is that it is not merely that one ought not, but that one cannot, believe, for example, that the number of stars is even. The "cannot" represents a conceptual barrier, not just an inability. Therefore belief in defiance of one's evidence (or evidentialism) is impossible. Adler addresses such questions as irrational beliefs, reasonableness, control over beliefs, and whether justifying beliefs requires a foundation. Although he treats the ethics of belief as a central topic in epistemology, his ideas also bear on rationality, argument and pragmatics, philosophy of religion, ethics, and social cognitive psychology.

The Ethics of Belief

Author : Jonathan Matheson,Rico Vitz
Publisher : Oxford University Press (UK)
Page : 353 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2014
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9780199686520

Get Book

The Ethics of Belief by Jonathan Matheson,Rico Vitz Pdf

How do people form beliefs, and how should they do so? The first part of this book explores the ethics of belief from an individualistic framework, and the second part extends this traditional debate to issues concerning the social dimensions of belief formation.

Arguing About Knowledge

Author : Duncan Pritchard,Ram Neta
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 640 pages
File Size : 44,8 Mb
Release : 2020-07-24
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781000154986

Get Book

Arguing About Knowledge by Duncan Pritchard,Ram Neta Pdf

What is knowledge? What are the sources of knowledge? What is the value of knowledge? What can we know? Arguing About Knowledge offers a fresh and engaging perspective on the theory of knowledge. This comprehensive and imaginative selection of readings examines the subject in an unorthodox and entertaining manner whilst covering the fundamentals of the theory of knowledge. It includes classic and contemporary pieces from the most influential philosophers from Descartes, Russell, Quine and G.E. Moore to Richard Feldman, Edward Craig, Gilbert Harman and Roderick Chisholm. In addition, students will find fascinating alternative pieces from literary and popular work such as Lewis Caroll, Jorges Luis Borges and Paul Boghossian. Each article selected is clear, interesting and free from unnecessary jargon. The editors provide lucid introductions to each section in which they give an overview of the debate and outline the arguments of the papers. Arguing About Knowledge is an inventive and stimulating reader for students new to the theory of knowledge.

Believing Against the Evidence

Author : Miriam Schleifer McCormick
Publisher : Routledge
Page : 144 pages
File Size : 41,6 Mb
Release : 2014-10-30
Category : Philosophy
ISBN : 9781136682681

Get Book

Believing Against the Evidence by Miriam Schleifer McCormick Pdf

The question of whether it is ever permissible to believe on insufficient evidence has once again become a live question. Greater attention is now being paid to practical dimensions of belief, namely issues related to epistemic virtue, doxastic responsibility, and voluntarism. In this book, McCormick argues that the standards used to evaluate beliefs are not isolated from other evaluative domains. The ultimate criteria for assessing beliefs are the same as those for assessing action because beliefs and actions are both products of agency. Two important implications of this thesis, both of which deviate from the dominant view in contemporary philosophy, are 1) it can be permissible (and possible) to believe for non-evidential reasons, and 2) we have a robust control over many of our beliefs, a control sufficient to ground attributions of responsibility for belief.

The Ethics of Belief

Author : William Kingdon Clifford
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Page : 28 pages
File Size : 46,6 Mb
Release : 2015-12-14
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1522751696

Get Book

The Ethics of Belief by William Kingdon Clifford Pdf

"The Ethics of Belief" from William Kingdon Clifford. English mathematician and philosopher (1845-1879).

The Will to Believe

Author : William James
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 360 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 1896
Category : Belief and doubt
ISBN : HARVARD:32044017068255

Get Book

The Will to Believe by William James Pdf

God and the Ethics of Belief

Author : Andrew Dole,Andrew Chignell
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Page : 296 pages
File Size : 42,6 Mb
Release : 2005-06-06
Category : Religion
ISBN : 9781139446600

Get Book

God and the Ethics of Belief by Andrew Dole,Andrew Chignell Pdf

Philosophy of religion in the Anglo-American tradition experienced a 'rebirth' following the 1955 publication of New Essays in Philosophical Theology (eds. Antony Flew and Alisdair MacIntyre). Fifty years later, this volume of essays offers a sampling of the best work in what is now a very active field, written by some of its most prominent members. A substantial introduction sketches the developments of the last half-century, while also describing the 'ethics of belief' debate in epistemology and showing how it connects to explicitly religious concerns and to the topics of the individual contributions. These topics include: the relationship between God and the natural laws; the metaphysics of bodily resurrection; the role of appeal to 'mystery' in the religious life; the justification of both theistic belief generally and more specific doctrinal beliefs; and the social-political aspects of religious faith and practice.

Lectures and Essays by the Late William Kingdon Clifford, F.R.S

Author : William Kingdon Clifford
Publisher : Legare Street Press
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 42,5 Mb
Release : 2022-10-27
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 1015831168

Get Book

Lectures and Essays by the Late William Kingdon Clifford, F.R.S by William Kingdon Clifford Pdf

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the "public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

The Ethics of Belief

Author : Anonim
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : Belief and doubt
ISBN : OCLC:1310586608

Get Book

The Ethics of Belief by Anonim Pdf