Is There a Rational Rule That Would Force Kanye Not to Believe That Right?

2min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Kanye needed to believe that right for it to come true. There are other kinds of sort of overconfidence effects that you have no shot, but also importantly, for some belief like that. And even if it has a positive effect on them eventually liking me, it might be not true while I believe it.

David and Tamler argue about William James' classic essay "The Will to Believe." What's more important - avoiding falsehood or discovering truth? When (if ever) is it rational to believe anything without enough evidence? What about beliefs that we can't be agnostic about? Are there hypotheses that we have to believe in order for them to come true? Does James successfully demonstrate that faith can be rational?

Plus, a philosopher at Apple who's not allowed to talk to the media - what are they hiding? And why are academics constantly telling students that academia is a nightmare?

Support Very Bad Wizards

Links: