BELIEVING ON THE BASIS OF EVIDENCE: ANSWER TO KYBURG'S PAPER

Amazingly, the usual meaning of to believe and croire, its French translation, are different. In the Collins Cobuild, beZief is “a feeling of certainty that something exists,” “an opinion that you feel sure about.” In contrast, the adjective believable is less categorical; it qualifies a thing that “you think is likely.” In French, croire is used with the nuance of the believable adjective. In English, “I believe A” usually means that “ A is true”is believed without doubt, whereas, in French, “Je crois A” means that “ A is true” is believed but with a certain degree of doubt. For instance, when you ask somebody “Is this the way to Brussels?” the answer “I believe so” means that for the speaker, it is indeed the way to Brussels and he has no doubt about it. In French, the answer “Je le crois” means that to the best of the speaker’s knowledge, it is the way to Brussels but he is not sure about it. If he were sure about it, he would have said “Oui.” In English, when the speaker is not sure, he would say “I think so.” The difference between the apparently identical words belief and croyance is important because confusion could result from an unclear definition.