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Extrinsic vs intrinsic
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Hales’ argument that it is not okay to believe whatever you want is sound based on intrinsic value and the rational principle. Intrinsic truth is valuable in itself regardless of what it produces in the outcome. If you believe that knowing the truth is certain, without any doubt, then believing in whatever thought or idea you have about anything without justification and certainty would be intellectually wrong. Therefore to believe in whatever you want would be wrong. According to the rational principle, truth should be sought and errors avoided. If you willingly avoid seeking the truth to your belief or irresponsibly ignore the truth to your belief, you are wrong. Is it or is it not wrong to do whatever you want? If you believe that
" The fact that he only wants to please people is what gets him into trouble. He tries too hard to tell people only what they want to hear. This all results in Hale changing his mind about the court, the witches, and Salem.
ABSTRACT: Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion (1779) may be read in the way Cleanthes (and Philo as well) reads Nature, as analogous to human artifice and contrivance. The Dialogues and Nature then are both texts, with an intelligent author or Author, and analogies may be started from these five facts of Hume's text: the independence of Hume's characters; the non-straightforwardness of the characters' discourse; the way the characters interact and live; the entanglements of Pamphilus as an internal author; and the ways in which a reader is also involved in making a dialogue. These and other analogies should reflect upon the Author of Nature as they do upon Hume's authorship: They do not prove the existence of their respective authors, but may well shed some light on the nature of these disparate beings.
He doesn’t lose his faith in his religion, but he does lose all of his faith in witchcraft. Hale Changes. Hale is the only character through the whole play that starts out believing that witchcraft was really true and then didn’t believe in it at all. The other characters either denied or never really believed in it. Reverend Hale was the only person that gave an apology for the deaths of innocent people. None of the others that was responsible for the deaths did not give an apology. Hale had very much feelings for all of the people's death.
As Reverend John Hale is not a resident of Salem, he approaches the accusations and rumors without any prior opinion. Hale is introduced as extremely arrogant and proud with his goal being “light, goodness and its preservation”(Miller 34). This phrasing strengthens his role as a man of God, but this is not actually displayed in his personality until later. He is very book smart and this leads to some signs of immaturity. This is shown in Act I when Parris questions why the devil would come to Salem. “Why would he [the devil] choose this house to strike?”(39) In response Hale says, “It is the best the Devil wants, and who is better than the minister?”(39) This shows he enjoys the position better than he does its purpose. He is also very eager.
Arthur Miller weaves many events into the story that contribute to the alteration in Hale’s mindset. In the middle of Act 1, Hale arrives and is perceived by the town as “The truth seeker”. Hale is called upon to determine what sort of witchcraft, if any, is occurring (Page 33-35). Hale arrives admired by the people, who all want him to claim it was witchcraft that has occurred. Although unsure, he understands he is being led toward the conclusion of witchcraft by the town’s false pretences and mass hysteria. He begins to see a weakness in the position of the townspeople of Salem and tries to not let common accusations be the support for his diagnosis.
In Part II of David Hume’s Dialogues of Natural Religion, Demea remarks that the debate is not about whether or not God exists, but what the essence of God is. (pg.51) Despite this conclusion in Part II, in his introduction to the Dialogues Martin Bell remarks that the question of why something operates the way it does is quite different from the question why do people believe that it operates the way it does. (pg. 11) This question, the question of where a belief originates and is it a valid argument, is much of the debate between Hume’s three characters in the Dialogues. (pg. ***)
William K. Clifford’s ‘Ethics of Belief’ (1877) challenges the way that people obtain their beliefs. He goes over the story of a ship-owner that was going to send to sea, even though his ship was in bad condition. The ship-owner dismissed the concerns and suspicions of contractors because he sincerely believed that the ship could make it across the sea. He sent the ship, and the ship sunk mid-ocean and the ship-owner received an insurance payment from the ship. Clifford argues that the ship-owner should be guilty of this act, given that he didn’t have sufficient evidence to conclude that the ship was fit to go out to sea. He goes further to argue that beliefs without sufficient evidence is “sinful and immoral” and overall hurts the society
In closing, people should be able to believe in whatever fallacies that choose as long as it doesn’t affect how their fellow man lives their lives. If you want to sit in a pew amongst some of the most judgmental narcissist imaginable go ahead; let the communion crackers forever be in your favor. Maybe you want to sit in room on a prayer mat as thin a tissue paper and slowly choke from smoke inhalation from the hundreds of incense you burned. Or even dress up in pirate regalia and worship a carb based god. Whatever you choose to do know to keep it to yourself, because no one really
Hume’s argument against the “sensible knave” stems from his writings in An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals, in which he writes his philosophical views based upon the activator of human moral action. The argument within Hume’s writing carries importance because it addresses the question of what drives, or what should drive, a person to be and act justly. His argument also encounters and explains the positive and negative consequences of moral actions. In the conclusion of his writing he includes a counter-example to his previous description of the source of moral action, the argument against the “sensible knave.” The example of a “sensible knave” is a tool to contrast the idea of being ethically right without the influence of selfish
Reformed epistemology argues for the belief in things, including God, without sufficient evidence. The basis of this argument is that, as humans, we believe and accept many things without evidence. Under classical foundationalism, things such as our memory, our perception, and testimonies would be insufficient basis for beliefs because they are dubitable, and therefore not self-evident or incorrigible. However, reformed epistemology reminds us that we do trust and belle in things that lack evidence, and cannot be deemed basic beliefs. For example, we believe in the past, though we have no evidence of it, it is not incorrigible nor self-evident. Regardless, the past still exists. Plantinga also enforces the concept that our beliefs are innocent until proven guilty. This means that it is rational to hold a belief without evidence until evidence is discovered. The presence of our knowledge of religion or God is enough for us to base beliefs on. This way of establishing our beliefs on our intellect, according to reformed epistemology, is only discredited when we find evidence to disprove them. Given this school of thought, religious beliefs are totally rational and moral without evidence, because they are innocent and founded in
God, a simple 3 letter word. For some of us, we immediately put a face or a name to this simple word. However, for others, much like myself, I place no weight upon the word. There is no meaning in my eyes. As an atheist, I do not believe in a higher being. In order to properly asses this, you must first question: What is god? Where did the concept come from? Philosophers have been in a very heated argument over religion for centuries now, and to today, there still has not been a conclusion. Philosopher David Hume is said to have been undecided as either an atheist or an agnostic. However, another philosopher, Saint Thomas Aquinas, is on a completely different platform. He believed that God is real, and that humans MUST believe in him. For this, I’ll let you be the judge, as the facts speak for themselves.
The intricacy of this claim can be easily underestimated due to its simple arrangement. However in order to understand this claim one needs to realize that humans are creatures of habit, learning the difference between certain notions and concepts as they grow older. So any knowledge an individual obtains is heavily influenced by the views of the society in which said individual lives. Many times the truths and beliefs of one group of people is found to be vastly different from those of another group of people. The same notion goes for what people believe to be false as well.
Doctor Del Tackett challenges your way of thinking with a question: “Do you really believe that what you believe is really real?” What is truth? This question is of the utmost importance for our existing culture. “Truth” is the determining factor of a person’s actions and reactions. For example, faith requires action. When a child jumps off the high diving board for the first time, he has faith that his daddy will catch him. He acted on the belief that he could trust his parent- on what he believed to be true. As Christians, we must ask ourselves that question daily. “Are my actions reflecting my belief in the truth?”
To what extent can absolute truth exist if “Context is all” (–Margaret Atwood)? If I was provided with the statement, “Define the term ‘balance’.” my immediate response would be that balance means when something is equal or uniform. If a psychology major was asked the same exact question, they might answer that “balance” is a state of mental/emotional stability.
Our beliefs guide everything we do, our actions, thoughts, relationships. But remember, beliefs are a choice! We can choose limiting beliefs or we can choose unlimited beliefs like "Everything always works out for me." Changing a belief is really just a thought away. And then another thought, and another thought, and another thought. What you believe you receive and achieve!