Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-r7xzm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T12:20:15.409Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

9 - The Formation of Belief

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2011

Stellan Ohlsson
Affiliation:
University of Illinois, Chicago
Get access

Summary

Any statement can be held true come what may, if we make drastic enough adjustments elsewhere in the system [of beliefs].

W. V. Quine

To someone standing on the African savannah, walking across a field in the Fertile Crescent or riding across the North American prairie, the evidence of the senses is unequivocal: The Earth is flat. There are local perturbations – valleys and mountains – but they cancel each other over long distances, so the Earth extends in all directions in the horizontal plane. Although it is difficult to prove anything about the beliefs of pre-historic peoples, it would be surprising if they conceived of the Earth in any other way. But the flat Earth generates puzzles: How far does it extend? Does it have an edge? If so, what is beyond the edge? If the ocean extends all the way to the edge, what happens with the water? If it pours over the edge, must not the ocean empty out eventually? Where does the water go? To anyone with the disposition and the opportunity to consider such questions, the lack of intelligible answers must have generated doubt. People living by the sea could make two observations that point to a different conception: Looking out from a high observation point, an observer sees the horizon curve ever so slightly. When a ship approaches, the mast appears over the horizon before the hull.

Type
Chapter
Information
Deep Learning
How the Mind Overrides Experience
, pp. 291 - 328
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×