The issue is with the mode of “shunning”: a meaningless belief shouldn’t be seen as false, it should be seen as meaningless. The opposite of a meaningless belief is not true.
(Also, “unfalsifiable”, narrowly construed, is not the same thing as meaningless. There might be theoretical conclusions that are morally relevant, but can’t be tested other than by examining the theoretical argument.)
Ah, thanks, all good points. Guess I was lumping together the whole unfalsifiability + meaninglessness cluster/region.
Likewise, when I thought “the opposite of a meaningless belief”, it turns out I was really thinking “the opposite of the implied assumption that this belief is meaningful”, which is obviously true if the belief is known to be meaningless… (because IME that’s what arguments usually end up being about)
The issue is with the mode of “shunning”: a meaningless belief shouldn’t be seen as false, it should be seen as meaningless. The opposite of a meaningless belief is not true.
(Also, “unfalsifiable”, narrowly construed, is not the same thing as meaningless. There might be theoretical conclusions that are morally relevant, but can’t be tested other than by examining the theoretical argument.)
Ah, thanks, all good points. Guess I was lumping together the whole unfalsifiability + meaninglessness cluster/region.
Likewise, when I thought “the opposite of a meaningless belief”, it turns out I was really thinking “the opposite of the implied assumption that this belief is meaningful”, which is obviously true if the belief is known to be meaningless… (because IME that’s what arguments usually end up being about)