‘People’s belief in something is evidence for that thing in the sense that in general it’s more likely for people to believe in a thing if it’s true’. What’s the evidence for this statement?
The overwhelming majority of all human beliefs are (trivially) true. Things like “If I drop a rock, it will fall down”, “If I touch hot fire it will hurt”, etc. and “I am sitting down”, “I am typing on a keyboard”, etc.
The human brain has evolved to determine truths about the world around it, especially in cases where the knowledge directly affects survival chances (“Tiger is dangerous”), but also for cases where the knowledge could help indirectly (basically all human progress including first tool usage—achieved especially through curiosity and strive to find truth). It fails catastrophically in some cases, but most of the time it does an excellent job.
‘People’s belief in something is evidence for that thing in the sense that in general it’s more likely for people to believe in a thing if it’s true’. What’s the evidence for this statement?
The overwhelming majority of all human beliefs are (trivially) true. Things like “If I drop a rock, it will fall down”, “If I touch hot fire it will hurt”, etc. and “I am sitting down”, “I am typing on a keyboard”, etc.
The human brain has evolved to determine truths about the world around it, especially in cases where the knowledge directly affects survival chances (“Tiger is dangerous”), but also for cases where the knowledge could help indirectly (basically all human progress including first tool usage—achieved especially through curiosity and strive to find truth). It fails catastrophically in some cases, but most of the time it does an excellent job.