Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id NAA04852 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk); Mon, 24 Sep 2001 13:50:15 +0100 Subject: RE: Dawkins was right all along Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2001 08:41:53 -0400 x-sender: wsmith1@camail2.harvard.edu x-mailer: Claris Emailer 2.0v3, Claritas Est Veritas From: "Wade T.Smith" <wade_smith@harvard.edu> To: "memetics list" <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" Message-ID: <20010924124236.AAA22568@camailp.harvard.edu@[128.103.125.215]> Sender: fmb-bounces@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
On 09/23/01 18:21, Richard Brodie said this-
>I'm confused
>by your calling a belief a behavior. Isn't a belief something you believe
>and a behavior something you do?
If, in response to a real world situation, like a ladder falling on an
infant causing it's death, you say, 'it's god's will'- that is a learned
response behavior, explaining the event. The need to have such a response
at the ready, rather than a response to discover the real cause and
possibly prevent such an occurance in the future, is holding a belief.
I'm more saying that the holding of such a belief is a behavior, because
it prevents further study of the facts of the event.
Beliefs need to be held, because they are false (in that skeptic's
definition of false- without evidence, again, using the definition of
belief as a contention without facts). Holding something that is false is
a behavior.
I think....
- Wade
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