Belief

Overview

Belief, or the act of believing, can mean any of several slightly different things. The overall definition could be phrased as:

• the knowledge or understanding of a piece of information as truth

This comes in two somewhat different varieties, however:

1. an acceptance that a piece of information corresponds to observable reality (to a sufficient degree that acting upon it is reasonable)
   • "I believe that it will rain today, so we should probably bring umbrellas."
   • "I believe that I can sit on this chair."
2. the result of a decision to admit a piece of information as true regardless of observable reality (i.e. doctrine)
   • "I believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, despite the fact that this is biologically impossible."
   • "I believe that God will save us if we pray hard enough."

The reason for these two rather different usages may be due to subtly different usages of the word truth:

1. that which accurately reflects reality
   • This definition leads naturally to the "corresponds to observable reality" definition of belief.
2. that which is agreed upon by all [in a given group]
   • While this definition can lead to the "corresponds to" definition of belief if one is surrounded by people who agree that this is the proper definition, by the same token it can also lead to the "regardless of" definition.