4 ms·

How is it a justified, rational belief if incorrect?

• brudgers 16y ago
  While driving, it is rational and justified to believe that the vehicle's speed is 60mph when the speedometer reads "60mph." However, if the speedometer is miscalibrated your belief is incorrect.
  • isleyaardvark 16y ago
    It cannot be said that being anti-vaccine is a justified rational belief when it has an unjustified irrational basis. It is justified and rational to believe you're going 60mph when the speedometer says so because we all have experience with the reliability of speedometers, even though it's possible to be incorrect. To use a different analogy, imagine I believed carpet was lava and stepping on it would burn me and break my mother's back. While this would explain why I'd avoid stepping on carpet, it would hardly be accurate to describe it as a justified, rational belief.
    • brudgers 16y ago
      We have experience with the undesirable side affects of various medicines as well eg. Thalidomide and Fen-phen and even MMR (per the CDC). http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/side-effects.htm#mmr http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/side-effects.htm#mmr