Many of our beliefs are wrong but some are useful

We may have some beliefs that are true, but many, even though they serve us well, are at the very least open to question.

A few days ago, I came across an intriguing image (from a presentation by Norwegian philosopher Tone Hermansen), showing a child in front of a table on which there are three rocks of different sizes, with a caption in two parts. The first one states a claim, “The little rock is much heavier than the medium and the large rock”; the second one alludes to a belief, “Do you think what the adult said was true or not true?” The question what the kid believes is interesting enough, but perhaps even more, why would she or he kid believe this — and what does it tell us about our own grown-up beliefs?

Where beliefs come from

Beliefs are weird and wonderful things. Sometimes they are contrasted with knowledge, but the dividing line between the two is open to dispute. Knowledge is often defined as justified, true beliefs (in practice, beliefs underpinned by reasonably sound evidence, that are not demonstrably false). This implies that knowledge may be seen as a special subset of beliefs, but nonetheless just as falsifiable — something that the evolution of knowledge through the ages seems to support.