6 ms·

There are multiple ways to interpret the phrase "I believe you."

by odonnellryan 9y ago

a_imho 9y ago
Please elaborate, I'm not a native speaker and I don't see how it can be interpreted differently in this context.
- jamesrcole 9y ago
  I'm a native speaker and I don't think there are multiple interpretations.
  - solipsism 9y ago
    The fact that the phrase "beyond a shadow of a doubt" exists should make it clear that there after different degrees of belief.
    - jamesrcole 9y ago
      Saying "I believe you" means "I believe what you said is true". There are no interpretations that are contrary to that. Yes, you can modulate the strength of your belief but they're all beliefs that the statement is true. The great-grandparent comment (the one whose meaning this discussion was about) was implying something other than belief in the truth of the statement.
  - odonnellryan 9y ago
    Really? US? "I believe you" can mean you believe what the person is saying WITHOUT it meaning you take it to be 100% factual. In this circumstance, it can mean you believe them (as in, trust them) but you're not "convicting" anyone of anything. But you ARE giving them the comfort of "trust."
    - hueving 9y ago
      When it comes to an accusation, you can't simultaneously believe the victim and clear the defendant of guilt.
      - DanBC 9y ago
        Of course you can. You can believe the victim while saying that the evidence doesn't meet whatever bar you set - in criminal matters that would be "beyond all reasonable doubt". It's fine for people to say "I think he did it, but the prosecution didn't prove it, and so I found him not guilty."
        odonnellryan 9y ago
        100% on-point, but I'd caution about bringing judgement into these matters. Believing a colleague when they come to you with ANY complaint does not mean you're going to pass judgement, or you even have to. It means listening and doing that in a way that does not discourage future complaints.
        jamesrcole 9y ago
        > Believing a colleague when they come to you with ANY complaint does not mean you're going to pass judgement, or you even have to. It means listening and doing that in a way that does not discourage future complaints. Your attitude towards them -- listening etc -- is a completely orthogonal matter to whether you believe in the truth of their claims. There seems to be this wishy-washy notion of "belief" that's causing confusion in this thread, where "believing" is equated to "not being judgemental".
        jamesrcole 9y ago
        > You can believe the victim while saying that the evidence doesn't meet whatever bar you set That's not "belief". Believing X means thinking that X is true. What you're really talking about is taking an agnostic position.
        hueving 9y ago
- odonnellryan 9y ago
  It's just contextual. It can mean: "I believe what you're saying, so I will follow up." Or, "I believe what you're saying, so I will take immediate action on those persons."
- binocarlos 9y ago
  An example (from a case I was involved as a witness in only last week). A jury must be 100% confident that the evidence presented confirms their beliefs. The judge will say "do not decide based on if you believe it happened but instead on the evidence presented". There a world where the jury can believe it happened (and deliberate for 4.5 hours) but still come out with not guilty because the physical evidence is not there. In historical sexual abuse cases (of which this was one) - the CPS (Criminal Prosecution Service here in the UK) will not take on the case if they did not think there was a good chance of winning and yet the only real evidence here was witness testimony and no forensics. It didn't matter that the jury obviously believed it happened - they did their job and realised that was only an opinion and not backed by evidence.

There are multiple ways to interpret the phrase "I believe you."

a_imho 9y ago

Please elaborate, I'm not a native speaker and I don't see how it can be interpreted differently in this context.

jamesrcole 9y ago
I'm a native speaker and I don't think there are multiple interpretations.
- solipsism 9y ago
  The fact that the phrase "beyond a shadow of a doubt" exists should make it clear that there after different degrees of belief.
  - jamesrcole 9y ago
    Saying "I believe you" means "I believe what you said is true". There are no interpretations that are contrary to that. Yes, you can modulate the strength of your belief but they're all beliefs that the statement is true. The great-grandparent comment (the one whose meaning this discussion was about) was implying something other than belief in the truth of the statement.
- odonnellryan 9y ago
  Really? US? "I believe you" can mean you believe what the person is saying WITHOUT it meaning you take it to be 100% factual. In this circumstance, it can mean you believe them (as in, trust them) but you're not "convicting" anyone of anything. But you ARE giving them the comfort of "trust."
  - hueving 9y ago
    When it comes to an accusation, you can't simultaneously believe the victim and clear the defendant of guilt.
    - DanBC 9y ago
      Of course you can. You can believe the victim while saying that the evidence doesn't meet whatever bar you set - in criminal matters that would be "beyond all reasonable doubt". It's fine for people to say "I think he did it, but the prosecution didn't prove it, and so I found him not guilty."
      - odonnellryan 9y ago
        100% on-point, but I'd caution about bringing judgement into these matters. Believing a colleague when they come to you with ANY complaint does not mean you're going to pass judgement, or you even have to. It means listening and doing that in a way that does not discourage future complaints.
        jamesrcole 9y ago
        > Believing a colleague when they come to you with ANY complaint does not mean you're going to pass judgement, or you even have to. It means listening and doing that in a way that does not discourage future complaints. Your attitude towards them -- listening etc -- is a completely orthogonal matter to whether you believe in the truth of their claims. There seems to be this wishy-washy notion of "belief" that's causing confusion in this thread, where "believing" is equated to "not being judgemental".
      - jamesrcole 9y ago
        > You can believe the victim while saying that the evidence doesn't meet whatever bar you set That's not "belief". Believing X means thinking that X is true. What you're really talking about is taking an agnostic position.
      - hueving 9y ago
odonnellryan 9y ago
It's just contextual. It can mean: "I believe what you're saying, so I will follow up." Or, "I believe what you're saying, so I will take immediate action on those persons."
binocarlos 9y ago
An example (from a case I was involved as a witness in only last week). A jury must be 100% confident that the evidence presented confirms their beliefs. The judge will say "do not decide based on if you believe it happened but instead on the evidence presented". There a world where the jury can believe it happened (and deliberate for 4.5 hours) but still come out with not guilty because the physical evidence is not there. In historical sexual abuse cases (of which this was one) - the CPS (Criminal Prosecution Service here in the UK) will not take on the case if they did not think there was a good chance of winning and yet the only real evidence here was witness testimony and no forensics. It didn't matter that the jury obviously believed it happened - they did their job and realised that was only an opinion and not backed by evidence.