This post is a list of quotes intended to represent my views about belief analysis. The original post about belief analysis can be found at this link. There are 12 quotes divided into 5 sections.
A. Belief analysis is a formal method meant to represent the structure of a belief (1)
B. Belief analysis is meant for analyzing subjective reasons (3)
C. A reason is something intended to support the accuracy of a proposition (2)
D. Belief analysis attempts to make the structure of a belief more transparent (3)
E. Belief analysis can help opposing sides understand each other better (3)
A. Belief analysis is a formal method meant to represent the structure of a belief
Hesiod:
1. "It is best to do things systematically, since we are only human and disorder is our worst enemy." (AZQuotes.com)
B. Belief analysis is meant for analyzing subjective reasons
Gregory Bateson:
2. "As I see it, the advances in scientific thought come from a combination of loose and strict thinking, and this combination is the most precious tool of science." (Culture Contact and Schismogensis, 1935)
Christian Huygens:
3. "There are many degrees of Probable, some nearer Truth than others, in the determining of which lies the chief exercise of our Judgement." (Cosmotheoros, 1695)
George Boole:
4. "There is not only a close analogy between the operations of the mind in general reasoning and its operation in the particular science of algebra, but there is to a considerable extent an exact agreement in the laws by which the two classes of operations are conducted." (An Investigation into the Laws of Thought, 1854)
George Boole:
4. "There is not only a close analogy between the operations of the mind in general reasoning and its operation in the particular science of algebra, but there is to a considerable extent an exact agreement in the laws by which the two classes of operations are conducted." (An Investigation into the Laws of Thought, 1854)
C. A reason is something intended to support the accuracy of a proposition
David Hume:
5. "In our reasonings concerning matter of fact, there are all imaginable degrees of assurance, from the highest certainty to the lowest species of moral evidence... A wise man, therefore, proportions his belief to the evidence." (An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding, 1748)
Antoine Lavoisier:
6. "The art of concluding from experience and observation consists in evaluating probabilities, in estimating if they are high or numerous enough to constitute proof." (Rapport des commissaires charges par le roi de l'exemen du magnetism animal, 1784)
D. Belief analysis attempts to make the structure of a belief more transparent
Ludwig Wittgenstein:
7."If a false thought is so much as expressed boldly and clearly, a great deal has already been gained." (Culture and Value, 1980 posthumous)
Francis Bacon:
8. "Truth will sooner come out from error than from confusion." (Novum Organum, 1620)
Rudolf Carnap:
9. "The function of logical analysis is to analyze all knowledge, all assertions of science and of everyday life, in order to make clear the sense of each assertion and the connections between them. One of the principal tasks of the logical analysis of a given proposition is to find out the method of verification for that proposition." (Philosophy and Logical Syntax, 1935)
E. Belief analysis can help opposing sides understand each other better
Ludwig Wittgenstein:
10. "To convince someone of the truth, it is not enough to state it, but rather one must find the path from error to truth." (Philosophical Occasions, 1993 posthumous)
I. A. Richards:
11. "Rhetoric, I shall urge, should be a study of misunderstanding and its remedies." (Philosophy of Rhetoric)
Jane Goodall:
12. "Especially now when views are becoming more polarized, we must work to understand each other across political, religious and national boundaries." (Quoted in Verge Magazine, 2010)
