greenfairy
philosopher wood nymph
- Joined
- May 25, 2012
- Messages
- 4,024
- MBTI Type
- iNfj
- Enneagram
- 6w5
- Instinctual Variant
- sx/sp
"William James observed that the passion to get truth and the passion to avoid falsehood are two distinct passions, and they lead to different strategies. The passion to get truth leads to more risk-taking than the passion to avoid falsehood, which leads to a more conservative strategy. One can ensure that one has no false beliefs by believing very few things and making sure that what one does believe satisfies the most stringent standards; but in doing so, one not only avoids false beliefs, one also forgoes many true beliefs. The passion to get truth, in contrast, will lead one to have more beliefs, some of which may be false. The standards of the person dominated by the passion for truth will be somewhat looser than the standards of the person dominated by the passion to avoid falsehood. James thinks that the passion to get truth is as rational as the passion to avoid falsehood. Reason cannot determine which passion should dominate, since both are, after all, passions. Neither should dictate one's entire belief-forming life, but it is not irrational for one of them to be more important than the other."
Quoted from an excerpt from Linda Zagzebski's On Epistemology.
Thought provoking.
Quoted from an excerpt from Linda Zagzebski's On Epistemology.
Thought provoking.