Also (and this is a pet peeve of mine), we're talking about evidence not proof. They're not the same thing. Just because there's evidence that something happened, it doesn't mean that it happened.
Evidence is a thing that you claim could be part of an valid argument that something happened ("is consistent with"). This isn't a universal definition, but there's got to be some separation between proof and evidence. When there's evidence admitted into a court case, it doesn't necessarily mean that someone is guilty. When there's a lot of evidence and still no proof, you can and should (and will) still make a probabilistic case that something did happen.
So I'd agree with and disagree with you. There's no evidence (that you know of) that Russell's Teapot is there, which is why you do not believe it is there. If somebody does believe it is there, but admits that they have no proof that it is there, it would be reasonable to ask what evidence makes them believe that it is there.
Where I obviously agree with is that "belief" can't mean just something you want to think for no particular reason. Or if it does, it's certainly not worth talking about.
SamBam|1 year ago
If I said "I STRONGLY believe that a teapot is out there," it would be reasonable to ask me why.
pessimizer|1 year ago
Evidence is a thing that you claim could be part of an valid argument that something happened ("is consistent with"). This isn't a universal definition, but there's got to be some separation between proof and evidence. When there's evidence admitted into a court case, it doesn't necessarily mean that someone is guilty. When there's a lot of evidence and still no proof, you can and should (and will) still make a probabilistic case that something did happen.
So I'd agree with and disagree with you. There's no evidence (that you know of) that Russell's Teapot is there, which is why you do not believe it is there. If somebody does believe it is there, but admits that they have no proof that it is there, it would be reasonable to ask what evidence makes them believe that it is there.
Where I obviously agree with is that "belief" can't mean just something you want to think for no particular reason. Or if it does, it's certainly not worth talking about.