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You don’t “believe” in physics, you understand there is some truth to it based on direct evidence. Belief is accepting something to be true on the foundation of

You don’t “believe” in physics, you understand there is some truth to it based on direct evidence. Belief is accepting something to be true on the foundation of faith—not having direct evidence. “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” - Hebrews 11:1 (ESV)

MattPalmer1086 5y ago
I disagree with this interpretation of the word belief. A belief may be founded in something, or it may not be. Unquestioning belief without evidence requires faith. Belief is not a synonym for faith.
- andrewmcwatters 5y ago
  It literally is.
  - MattPalmer1086 5y ago
    They are often used interchangeably in religious contexts, but belief has a wider usage outside of that domain. Faith implies belief without requiring any evidence. But belief can be conditional on evidence.
  - philwelch 5y ago
    The standard definition of “knowledge” used to be “justified true belief”. In other words, knowledge is a type of belief. (That didn’t turn out to be a good definition, but not because of the “belief” part.)
s1artibartfast 5y ago
Belief is a real word with meaning in the secular context as well. Belief can be informed by evidence or not. It simply means acceptance or confidence that something is true. You can have faith in the available evidence, or faith in the absence of evidence.
fluoridation 5y ago
Belief is accepting something as being true, for one reason or another. Some beliefs are based on faith, others on evidence.
thereisnospork 5y ago
> Belief is accepting something to be true on the foundation of faith—not having direct evidence. Most people will never understand the direct evidence of even relatively mundane science, and almost everyone is incapable of understanding the direct evidence of the cutting edge.[0] and its implications, ergo in lieu of understanding they must substitute belief. Where science policy/communication fails here is in producing a 'believable' system, with adequate consistency and storytelling for persons who will only ever understand by analogy. [0]Regular people don't know what an integral is. The intelligent, educated, and motivated don't have the bandwidth to really understand more than a smattering topics deeply.
curuinor 5y ago
This interpretation of what faith is was created during the Reformation. Which was unfortunately a few millennia after this episode. Ancient religions were definitely based on getting the goods by magic - they really did sacrifice those oxen to get YHWH to win the war for them, they really did sacrifice those fatted calves to get Zeus to get the king to make good decisions, they really did sacrifice those pigeons to get Portunus the god of locks to keep the lock working. It's not fatted calves, but we do sacrifice some money to the quantum folks so they can break our enemies' encryption locks ... in like 25 years ...
sockpuppet_12 5y ago
The NWT renders Heb 11:1 as "Faith is the assured expectation of what is hoped for, the evident demonstration* of realities that are not seen." (*Or “convincing evidence.”) Those with faith have proof or evidence that can be used to demonstrate or to back up that faith. It's not blind.

MattPalmer1086 5y ago

I disagree with this interpretation of the word belief. A belief may be founded in something, or it may not be. Unquestioning belief without evidence requires faith. Belief is not a synonym for faith.

andrewmcwatters 5y ago
It literally is.
- MattPalmer1086 5y ago
  They are often used interchangeably in religious contexts, but belief has a wider usage outside of that domain. Faith implies belief without requiring any evidence. But belief can be conditional on evidence.
- philwelch 5y ago
  The standard definition of “knowledge” used to be “justified true belief”. In other words, knowledge is a type of belief. (That didn’t turn out to be a good definition, but not because of the “belief” part.)

s1artibartfast 5y ago

Belief is a real word with meaning in the secular context as well. Belief can be informed by evidence or not. It simply means acceptance or confidence that something is true. You can have faith in the available evidence, or faith in the absence of evidence.

fluoridation 5y ago

Belief is accepting something as being true, for one reason or another. Some beliefs are based on faith, others on evidence.

thereisnospork 5y ago

> Belief is accepting something to be true on the foundation of faith—not having direct evidence. Most people will never understand the direct evidence of even relatively mundane science, and almost everyone is incapable of understanding the direct evidence of the cutting edge.[0] and its implications, ergo in lieu of understanding they must substitute belief. Where science policy/communication fails here is in producing a 'believable' system, with adequate consistency and storytelling for persons who will only ever understand by analogy. [0]Regular people don't know what an integral is. The intelligent, educated, and motivated don't have the bandwidth to really understand more than a smattering topics deeply.

curuinor 5y ago

This interpretation of what faith is was created during the Reformation. Which was unfortunately a few millennia after this episode. Ancient religions were definitely based on getting the goods by magic - they really did sacrifice those oxen to get YHWH to win the war for them, they really did sacrifice those fatted calves to get Zeus to get the king to make good decisions, they really did sacrifice those pigeons to get Portunus the god of locks to keep the lock working. It's not fatted calves, but we do sacrifice some money to the quantum folks so they can break our enemies' encryption locks ... in like 25 years ...

sockpuppet_12 5y ago

The NWT renders Heb 11:1 as "Faith is the assured expectation of what is hoped for, the evident demonstration* of realities that are not seen." (*Or “convincing evidence.”) Those with faith have proof or evidence that can be used to demonstrate or to back up that faith. It's not blind.