Jordan Peterson is famously cagey when asked if he believes in God, and his responses can be annoying. But the more I think about the question, the more I understand where he’s coming from.
For example — Let’s say someone claims to believe in materialism. That’s what he’ll say if you ask him. That’s the way he believes that he thinks. But he also believes a lot of other things that are inconsistent with materialism, and he acts consistent with those other beliefs.
Does he really believe in materialism? You could say he does or you could say he doesn’t. Its not a straight-forward question.
I’m sure all of us have been in situations where we say something radical, and someone (maybe your mother) says “You don’t really believe that!” And … maybe you really don’t.
In other words, there may be a disconnect between what we tell ourselves and what we actually believe. In fact, it seems very likely that there is. We create all these deceptive self-images to flatter our egos. But it’s not who we are in a pinch.
What we say we believe — and what we tell ourselves we believe — might not be the same as what we actually believe.
I’m not suggesting that we always question ourselves about everything, so that if someone asks, “Do you believe in ghosts?” you have to say, “I don’t think I do.”
But there may be certain beliefs that are so deeply wired in our minds that we still believe them despite protestations to the contrary. For example, the sophomore may insist he doesn’t believe in other minds, but … he really does.
This theory of belief was already put forward in the nineteenth century. Charles Sanders Peirce is famous for promoting it, but it was already around before him. But I find it problematic.
Would you spend a night in a tomb full of corpses for a few hundred dollars? Maybe not, but does that mean you really believe in ghosts? I don’t think so.
In my own I consider those transparent walkways that are suspended high above the ground. https://en.paperblog.com/glass-bridge-in-china-99813/ I am definitely acrophobic. I would be gripped with fear if I had to walk across one. I wouldn’t do it for free or even for a few hundred dollars. So I am acting on the belief that I will fall, even though I firmly believe that such a walkway (or bridge) will support me quite securely. Some people are afraid of flying in airplanes. I have never had such a fear, but if the airplane was transparent and I believed it to be as securely built as a normal airplane I still wouldn’t fly on one.
Doesn’t your answer beg the question? You say you believe those things, and you think you believe those things.
I’m reminded of the Star Trek episode Spectre of the Gun. They intellectually believed the guns couldn’t kill him, but any doubt would kill, so Spock had to mindmeld with them all to make sure they didn’t have any doubt.
Also, the appeal to irrational fears, or overwhelming desire, seems to be another thing. E.g., “Sue, do you believe your husband is faithful?” “I do.” “Then you won’t mind if he spends the night naked with a hundred gorgeous young women.”
The answer is obviously that Sue believes he’s faithful under normal circumstances. That’s not what I’m talking about.
What I’m saying is more along the lines of “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.'” He talks himself into something that he doesn’t actually believe.
I don’t think that my answer begs the question because it is an appeal to how we use the word “believe.” Just imagine a person saying that she will only admit to believing things that have passed the pragmatic test of belief. Such a person would be ridiculously skeptical. Moreover, if it is just a question of further qualifications this could also lead to ridiculous scenarios. I believe that there is nothing in my cupboard, but then someone presses me believe there is air in the cupboard and air is something. We could go on and on until our beliefs would die the death of thousands of qualifications.
Yes, there are cases of self-deception of some kind. I suppose you could reverse the thing about the belief in God by pointing out that people say that they believe in a God who will punish us for our sins and yet they continue to sin. It seems to me that it is most convenient to say that such a person does believe in God and fails to act in accordance with her belief. I have yet to meet someone who says in her heart that there is no God and actually believes in God. But I find it fruitless to go around analyzing people with the aim of penetrating their heart.
I suspect that in Peterson he knows a lot of goofy people (e.g. Jim Bakker, Pat Robertson, Margerie Taylor Greene) who profess a belief in God and does not want to be associated with him. It reminds me of when a recovered alcoholic once ask me if I believed in a higher power. I did not want to go there because alcoholics and drug addicts make my skin crawl.
*presses me to admit that I believe
Incidentally, I can’t think of a way of testing whether someone really believes in other minds. Whatever test you set up, she can just say that other bodies are just philosophical zombies. For all I know, there could be someone who believes that.
You make me wonder — A philosophical zombie does not have first-person experience. Does that mean it has no mind? Is first-person experience a necessary component of a mind?
Yes, that is how understand the concept of mind.