"I believe I'll have another drink"

[supergee]

Pandagon has some good thoughts on accept vs. believe. I use "believe" as a weak word for areas where we don't know, now or ever. I believe the Yankees will win the 2011 pennant. I believe materialist reductionism is inadequate to explain you and me. On the other hand, I accept evolution and global warming, rather than merely believing in them.

Comments

[andrewducker]

Interesting, our definitions differ signigicantly. I'd only use belief for something I was 100% sure of. For your two situations I'd use "hope".

[supergee]

How do you react to the apparent equating of "You believe in evolution; I believe in creation."

[andrewducker]

I assume that in both cases the person thinks that their model is correct.

[supergee]

I wouldn't use the same word because I am convinced that the side that accepts evolution has much better evidence.

[andrewducker]

I agree that evolution has better evidence - but what people seem to be doing in their heads looks very much the same from the outside, in my experience. Belief in evolution requires less faith than belief in God, but the way that people seem to process it internally doesn't seem to be radically different, so far as I can tell.