There's just certain things, I don't know whether they're true, but we're at least capable of believing that they're true. So that's one distinction between live and dead hypotheses. The second step is to say, among our in the category of our live hypotheses, we can choose to adopt to believe them. That is a step that we are capable of doing. And why it's an actual option depends on your personal history, maybe your temperament. Culture and time.
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?
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