Re: virus: Belief and Knowledge (was: The truth about faith)

Robin Faichney (r.j.faichney@stir.ac.uk)
Tue, 1 Jul 1997 13:44:00 +0100


I wrote:
>David McFadzean wrote:
>>At 09:36 AM 30/06/97 +0100, Robin Faichney wrote:
>>>"If I have sufficient faith in it, it will come true."
>>
>>I would agree with that, but isn't there a tacit admission
>>that it (whatever "it" is) is not currently true? If so,
>>then that isn't faith by anyone's definition (is it?).
>
>This is a psycho/spiritual operation, not logical/linguistic
>analysis.

...and I'd like to add, re your questions about "heart" and
"spirit", David, that I think the same basic scenario applies:
when these terms are used, the user intends to have
some particular effect, and the words need not correspond
to any particular "things". (This is in line with Wittgenstein's
later theory of meaning as use, as opposed to the earlier
"picture theory" in the Tractatus, in which language was
supposed to "picture" facts about the world, and in which
"heart", "spirit" and the like would have no meaning.)

Robin