The Ethics of Belief

Preface:

William Kingdon Clifford FRS was an English mathematician and philosopher and in this article he attempted to make an argument on what people should believe and how one should justify their own beliefs

Reconstruction of an argument in Standard Form:

1. All actions are influenced by our beliefs in some way
2. Action based on unjustified beliefs causes harm
3. Actions based on unjustified beliefs promote credulity
4. C: Therefore, it is always wrong to hold unjustified beliefs

Validity and Soudness:

In terms of validity, the argument is valid. The conclusion is true for the premises. The premises follow a logical process and lead to a conclusion that is true based on these premises. Now is the argument sound? This question is more difficult to answer. Clifford believes that, “it is not possible so to sever the belief from the action it suggests as
to condemn the one without condemning the other” and this why his argument is sound. In my opinion, I do not find the argument to be sound, because the premises can be considered untrue by some. I do not believe that all unjustified beliefs cause actions that are harmful. In my opinion donating money to a missionary for helping third world countries is an example of this. Those who participate do so in the name of “God.” I have deemed the existence of a god to be unjustified, but it is without question that helping the poor and disadvantaged is a good thing and does not cause harm. In order for an argument to be sound, all premises must be true and the conclusion must be true. In this case the conclusion is only true in the realm of the premises, but all the premises are not true, so therefore the argument is not sound.

Practical Significance:

This thesis has a great impact on the way one thinks. The argument is one that everything must be questioned to find the truths. No belief should be believed unless it has been thoroughly investigated and proven to be true. This is practical because we should investigate all of our beliefs and why we believe them because we have to make the best decisions for us based on our truest beliefs.

Fallacies:

A fallacy I can see this fall under is Circular Reasoning. I believe this to one that it falls under because in the viewpoints of this reading, there are no truths because everything can be investigated further. If we were to continue to investigate the validity of Clifford’s argument, it would loop to same reasoning of belief; that we must question things because everything is subjective. Beliefs are different to every person and no argument Clifford can make will make his argument sound or valid because truth is different to all.

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