I’d dispute the claim that everyone has a right to false beliefs, or at least I’d suggest it’s not as simple as you suggest. There’s a famous philosophical example about a ship’s captain who chooses to believe that his ship can definitely make the voyage, even though it’s more than a bit shaky and then it ends up sinking and causing a bunch of people to drown. You might say that the wrong action was making the voyage, not believing that his ship could make the voyage, but once you have the belief that your ship can, in many circumstances you’ll be pretty much committed to (say if the captain owes a lot of money and really needs to make the voyage so he can pay it back).
But of course, claiming that people don’t have a right to false beliefs isn’t the same as claiming that people have to be already ready to stand and defend their beliefs, regardless of how tired they feel, how pressing their other tasks are, how much engagement they’ve already made on that issue or how useful they deem the engagement to be.
I don’t agree that everyone has the right to false beliefs. But think that if you have false beliefs that you’re not imposing on me, directly or indirectly, that’s between you and your own commitment to rationality, ie not my business.
Seems like a pretty wide scope? Like if you’re voting according to the beliefs then arguably you’re imposing those beliefs indirectly on other people? I guess this could be excluded based on being less than a millionth of a decision, but curious where you draw the line.
Like if you’re voting according to the beliefs then arguably you’re imposing those beliefs indirectly on other people?
Any belief that motivates your vote for public policy is a public belief.
There are some votes that are closer to aggregation of preferences (like “should our group house have a quiet hallway norms or loud hallway norms?”) where you might be basically expressing a private belief.
But in general, if you’re voting on it, it’s a matter of public interest, and it is impolite to rely on illegible argumentation that isn’t made available for critique (though perhaps we could construct situations in which I agree that it is unavoidable).
Now, that’s interesting. Because I am somewhat tempted by the view that if you are voting on it, then it’s a matter of public interest, so you have a responsibility to try to believe things that are true, but I would disagree with “it is impolite to rely on illegible argumentation that isn’t made available for critique”.
I’d dispute the claim that everyone has a right to false beliefs, or at least I’d suggest it’s not as simple as you suggest. There’s a famous philosophical example about a ship’s captain who chooses to believe that his ship can definitely make the voyage, even though it’s more than a bit shaky and then it ends up sinking and causing a bunch of people to drown. You might say that the wrong action was making the voyage, not believing that his ship could make the voyage, but once you have the belief that your ship can, in many circumstances you’ll be pretty much committed to (say if the captain owes a lot of money and really needs to make the voyage so he can pay it back).
But of course, claiming that people don’t have a right to false beliefs isn’t the same as claiming that people have to be already ready to stand and defend their beliefs, regardless of how tired they feel, how pressing their other tasks are, how much engagement they’ve already made on that issue or how useful they deem the engagement to be.
I don’t agree that everyone has the right to false beliefs. But think that if you have false beliefs that you’re not imposing on me, directly or indirectly, that’s between you and your own commitment to rationality, ie not my business.
I have no right to assert that you believe any particular thing, you are fundamentally sovereign over your beliefs, even though no one can exempt you from rationality’s laws.
“Imposing on me, directly or indirectly”
Seems like a pretty wide scope? Like if you’re voting according to the beliefs then arguably you’re imposing those beliefs indirectly on other people? I guess this could be excluded based on being less than a millionth of a decision, but curious where you draw the line.
Any belief that motivates your vote for public policy is a public belief.
There are some votes that are closer to aggregation of preferences (like “should our group house have a quiet hallway norms or loud hallway norms?”) where you might be basically expressing a private belief.
But in general, if you’re voting on it, it’s a matter of public interest, and it is impolite to rely on illegible argumentation that isn’t made available for critique (though perhaps we could construct situations in which I agree that it is unavoidable).
Now, that’s interesting. Because I am somewhat tempted by the view that if you are voting on it, then it’s a matter of public interest, so you have a responsibility to try to believe things that are true, but I would disagree with “it is impolite to rely on illegible argumentation that isn’t made available for critique”.