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ccattbbugg t1_jas288w wrote

Reply to comment by kevinzvilt in Our emotional experiences reveal facts about the world in the same way our sensory experiences do. Trusting in either requires a leap of faith to some degree. by IAI_Admin

This is why when indoctrinating kids there is usually long conversations about faith and what it means. As someone who was sent to church through childhood I was not alone in being confused by the concept. To use the word faith in relation to external stimuli voids that word it's current meaning. Faith is a concerted effort to believe; a kid doesn't need faith to know fun, nap time, the colour green, but a kid needs to be told to have faith in an omniscient being and to have faith in a man they have never met.

While I understand the point being made here regarding the word, using it interchangeably in this fashion is lighting a pedantic rage inside me. To me it would make more sense to say you believe your senses than to say you have faith in them.

(belief: an acceptance that a statement is true or that something exists.
"his belief in the value of hard work")

(faith: complete trust or confidence in someone or something.)

Do you really have faith in your sensory perception? Mine tricks me al the time. However I do believe my senses most of the time.

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lambentstar t1_jattwrz wrote

It’s a loaded and misused word and it makes me so angry when people use it so freely. Also raised strictly religious and left that system, but as a child faith was obedience to authority and accepting everything they told you as fact without questioning or rationale.

Contrast that to faith that a partner is honest with you, or faith (or lack thereof) in a justice system and we can quickly see that that type of faith is based on an evaluation of prior actions to determine a level of confidence. Nothing is infallible so sure, confidence requires some predictive “leap of faith”

That’s so different from faith in an unknowable, unseeable, inscrutable deity rewarding you after death, or faith requiring subservience or disregarding evidence.

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HamiltonBrae t1_jaub7ff wrote

totally agree. most of the time i was thinking about this thread was about what "faith" actually means in this context. its such a loaded term when what has been talked about in this thread could use more neutral and straightforward terms. i wonder if part of the use of the word is just to make the discussion seem more exciting.

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kevinzvilt t1_javwqbl wrote

>To me it would make more sense to say you believe your senses than to say you have faith in them

Yes, but let's draw a line in the sand here. Even though your senses probably do not accurately reflect objective reality, your experience of your senses is absolutely certain. So there would not be much "believing" involved.

After that... Things get a little fuzzy in terms of certainty... Less and less certain... Emotions and thoughts are the runner-up... Immediate memories... Further memories... Universal laws... And so on...

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