The value of Faith

"Faith is inherently irrational, and while I respect the freedom of every individual to decide for themselves whether or not to have anay particular faith, I think it's important to point out the inherent intellectual risks in believing anything wihtout evidence or logic." - Dr. Steven Novella

This quote disturbs me because I don't what to say but I feel I should defend faith. I then asked myself "why"? Why defend faith? What value does it bring?

If people only ever believed in things they already have evidence for, how would we discover anything? Being generally open or hypothesising in completely a priori ways have led to many great discoveries.

I don't believe faith is necessarily inherently illogical. I have what can only be described as faith in the Force. It's more of a perspective than something I'd want or need to seek evidence for, but it doesn't strike me as illogical. The more I study - I'm currently considering an MSc in Systems Thinking in Practice - the more logical it seems.

I guess you need to define 'faith'. When you look up faith in cambridge dictionaries it simply gives the word 'trust'. Having trust and having blind acceptance is two different things. I think there is some value in faith as trust as long as you have some reasonable questions when things don't completely add up.

But then there's faith as in religious faith, faith as in believing something without evidence, faith as belief in anything...

I guess the argument depends on where on the line of what constitutes 'faith' you are standing.

"Faith is not belief without proof, but trust without reservation."

D. Elton Trueblood

Many people still have faith, just not necessarily in the spiritual. People have faith in what they are told because they trust the person who tells them it. If you go to a doctor and they give you a diagnosis and you just accept that then you have faith. You may well trust your doctor and all the science behind their diagnosis but unless you see the evidence and understand it for yourself then what you are left with is faith. It could just as easily be a car mechanic or a builder.

If you go to a doctor and they give you a diagnosis and you just accept that then you have faith. You may well trust your doctor and all the science behind their diagnosis but unless you see the evidence and understand it for yourself then what you are left with is faith. It could just as easily be a car mechanic or a builder.

I don't know what kind of doctors you go to, but if they are not showing you evidence of what is wrong and helping you understand it yourself, you have a poor doctor.

Simply put though, I don't have faith the sun will rise tomorrow, but I can reasonably assume it will.

I don't even know if I will wake up tomorrow, but I fail to see the point or logic in operating off the assumption I won't.

Science basis information off of conclusions that are repeatable, and not solely subjective.

However, like the rising Sun,or you waking up tomorrow, it is not a given.

That's why things stay as theories.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_theory

I'm from the UK so we are talking the NHS! :laugh: But I wasn't referring to myself. I just mean't to show that not everyone questions what they are told and therefore they show a lot of faith, in the same way that some people accept what a priest tells them about a spiritual existence that can't be proven.

Thinking of all the manifestations of stocks.
Created or evolved (this not change the essence)

a rational mind ¿could have predicted all the evolution in detail from
a start point of a chaotic fact: creative or evolutionary ?

Put another way: we can forecast amid the current situation,forecasting proyecting
in thousands or millions of years to future and visualize wonderful living things in
lots of forms? (.... without a little faith at least)
perhaps we are pessimist if we look how human beings destroy the nature day to
day...but how was the first explosion? chemical gases ...rocks crashing...explosions...

¿ what happened , this past minute in our sun ?

A rational mind of adan or a caveman:¿can to imagine the conquest of space or the
industries,(although not sound as spiritual progress ) without some faith in some thing
...in herself or in another creature...
maybe the faith in the other life was needed to make possible the building of a great
pyramid and temples...
or simple the faith of each worker in the beer and bread in end of day, faith in the promise
of their boss ...! faith can make marvelous things ...can show us unimaginable things...can
to make possible boss and workers...also can to be analyzed...

If we consult tarot with a expert and famous person in the art,what he say can to produce
a impact that can change our future...but if we can to imagine the cards in a pieces of paper
without images...our mind maybe also can to see, with imagination, things. And, if we can to
produce a real impact subcounciente,we can to produce inner changes...

For me faith just serves as a bridge to bypass effort. Either experience is assumed to retain validity or assumptions are made, and then that faith is used by directed effort to some other related process - since we seem to have only so much mental power or time available.

"[strike]Replicants are[/strike] Faith is like any other machine. [strike]They're[/strike]It's either a benefit or a hazard. If [strike]they're[/strike] it's a benefit, it's not my problem."

Sorry, I'll try and get Bladerunner into anything these days...