Your original point, which I didn’t read carefully enough:
“I feel that X.” Every sentence of this form is false, because X is an assertion about the world, not a feeling. Someone saying “I feel that X” in fact believes X, but calling it a feeling instead of a belief protects it from refutation. Try replying “No you don’t”, and watch the explosion. “How dare you try to tell me what I’m feeling!”
“No, you don’t” sounds like a chancy move under the circumstances. Have you tried “How sure are you about X?” and if so, what happens?
More generally, statements usually imply more than one claim. If you negate a whole statement, you may think that which underlying claim you’re disagreeing with is obvious, but if the person you’re talking to thinks you’re negating a different claim, it’s very easy to end up talking past each other and probably getting angry at each other’s obtuseness.
My reply: If I say I feel something, I’m talking about an emotion.
You again: That prohibits you from saying “I feel that X”. No emotion is spoken of in saying “I feel that the Riemann hypothesis is true”, or “I feel that a sequel to The Hobbit should never be made”, or “I feel that there is no God but Jaynes and Eliezer (may he live forever) is His prophet”, or in any other sentence of that form. “I feel” and “that X” cannot be put together and make a sensible sentence.
If someone finds themselves about to say “I feel that X”, they should try saying “I believe that X” instead, and notice how it feels to say that. It will feel different. The difference is fear.”
It sounds to me as though you’ve run into a community (perhaps representative of the majority of English speakers) with bad habits. I, and the people I prefer to hang out with, would be able to split “I feel that x” into a statement about emotions or intuitions and a statement about the perceived facts which give rise to the emotions or intuitions.
I believe that “I believe that a sequel to The Hobbit should never be made” is emotionally based. Why would someone say such a thing unless they believed that the sequel would be so bad that they’d hate it?
Here’s something I wrote recently about the clash between trying to express the feeling that strong emotions indicate the truth and universality of their premises and the fact that real world is more complicated.
To Richard Kennaway:
Your original point, which I didn’t read carefully enough:
“I feel that X.” Every sentence of this form is false, because X is an assertion about the world, not a feeling. Someone saying “I feel that X” in fact believes X, but calling it a feeling instead of a belief protects it from refutation. Try replying “No you don’t”, and watch the explosion. “How dare you try to tell me what I’m feeling!”
“No, you don’t” sounds like a chancy move under the circumstances. Have you tried “How sure are you about X?” and if so, what happens?
More generally, statements usually imply more than one claim. If you negate a whole statement, you may think that which underlying claim you’re disagreeing with is obvious, but if the person you’re talking to thinks you’re negating a different claim, it’s very easy to end up talking past each other and probably getting angry at each other’s obtuseness.
My reply: If I say I feel something, I’m talking about an emotion.
You again: That prohibits you from saying “I feel that X”. No emotion is spoken of in saying “I feel that the Riemann hypothesis is true”, or “I feel that a sequel to The Hobbit should never be made”, or “I feel that there is no God but Jaynes and Eliezer (may he live forever) is His prophet”, or in any other sentence of that form. “I feel” and “that X” cannot be put together and make a sensible sentence.
If someone finds themselves about to say “I feel that X”, they should try saying “I believe that X” instead, and notice how it feels to say that. It will feel different. The difference is fear.”
It sounds to me as though you’ve run into a community (perhaps representative of the majority of English speakers) with bad habits. I, and the people I prefer to hang out with, would be able to split “I feel that x” into a statement about emotions or intuitions and a statement about the perceived facts which give rise to the emotions or intuitions.
I believe that “I believe that a sequel to The Hobbit should never be made” is emotionally based. Why would someone say such a thing unless they believed that the sequel would be so bad that they’d hate it?
Here’s something I wrote recently about the clash between trying to express the feeling that strong emotions indicate the truth and universality of their premises and the fact that real world is more complicated.