Open Access"They believe or they only believe they believe" – Montaigne and Bayle about belief
Author(s) -
Anthony McKenna
Publication year - 1970
Publication title -
különbség
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2560-158X
pISSN - 1785-7821
DOI - 10.14232/kulonbseg.2015.15.1.181
Subject(s) - epistemology , philosophy , demonstrative , conviction , metaphysics , irrational number , argument (complex analysis) , transcendental number , mathematical proof , coherence (philosophical gambling strategy) , internalism and externalism , law , mathematics , linguistics , biochemistry , geometry , chemistry , statistics , political science
What is fideism? Is it a belief that does not rely on any argument or one that relies on non-demonstrative arguments? Is a person a Fideist who claims his belief does not rely on any argument, logical thinking, or probability but is the irrational and non-reflective result of spontaneous conversion, an ‘emotion of the heart’? Or is a Fideist rather a person who although s/he refuses to accept demonstrative arguments and metaphysical proofs, s/he still accepts belief to be a well-founded conviction, that is based on historical and moral arguments like many other everyday convictions? (In this view, historical arguments stand for the truth of witnesses, the authenticity of the Scripture, while moral arguments mean the respectability, coherence and sublimity of the teaching.)