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HOW BELIEF WORKS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2013

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Extract

Why do we believe what we believe? The answer may seem obvious: we believe what we've assessed to be true. However, there's a surprisingly basic logical flaw in this theory. And even more surprising is the real answer to the above question.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Philosophy 2013 

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References

Notes

1 ‘believe, v., 4a', OED Online (Oxford University Press, March 2013), accessed March 25, 2013.

2 Baruch Spinoza, Ethics (1677), Part 2, 49th proposition.

3 Gilbert, D., ‘How Mental Systems Believe’, American Psychologist, vol. 46 (1991), 107119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

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5 Sutherland, Stuart, Irrationality (London: Pinter & Martin, 2007), 1.Google Scholar

6 Ibid., 11–12.

7 Winerman, L., ‘E-mails and egos’, Monitor on Psychology, vol. 37, no. 2 (2006), 16.Google Scholar

8 Wegner, D.M. et al. , ‘The Transparency of Denial: Briefing in the Debriefing Paradigm’, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, vol. 49, no. 2 (1985), 338346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar