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Agnostics/atheists do you require evidence for other things in life, too?

We require evidence to believe in god. Do we also require evidence to believe in other things in life? Better put, do some of us believe in things for which there is no evidence?

What am I talking about? All kinds of things: Astrology, Myers-Briggs, Organic produce, juice cleanses, the list goes on.

If someone pointed out that there was no evidence behind your belief, would you be willing to change it?

jwd45244 7 Aug 12
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0

No not really.

I don't necessarily believe that a juice cleanse will do anything for your health but it doesn't mean I haven't tried it. I won't recommend something that hasn't been verified however I'll still try it myself.

In addition you've grouped some things together with varying degrees of relevance to your point on "belief". Astrology has no backing that I've ever heard, MBTI has some backing but most psychologists agree that it has little merit and work on expanded personality tests, organic food is healthier than artificial as it can be processed better, but the degree of difference has skepticism, and juice cleanses absolutely affect your body but not in the ways that most people hope they will. Grouping things like that lowers everything to the lowest common denominator and they're not all equal in that regard.

Besides of all of that, if you've ever recognized the placebo effect you'd know that if I convinced someone bashing their face against a car windshield would cause them to lose weight, I may build up market share in Safelite. Belief in and of itself can have beneficial effects and removing that would simply negate the potential benefit. In terms of religion, for thousands of years millions of people have been good only for the sake of going to heaven, yes they've also done some bad things and I don't want to side track the discussion, but if there was no belief in god, there would be a lot more people doing very immoral things.

I'd agree that spreading misinformation is harmful, but if someone loves to do a juice cleanse and it makes them feel better and they're convinced it has beneficial effects, as long as they don't recommend it to anyone else is there harm?

Organic is a marketing ploy. MBTI was made up by a mother and her daughter over a kitchen table. Your body cleanses itself. That is the function of digestion, defecation, urination, persperation and resperation

@jwd45244 "Organic" is a real term that has been adopted as a marketing ploy and used to mislead people, much like "patriotic".

Your body does clean itself yet if I pour bleach into it my digestion system can't quite manage and I die, if I pour alcohol down it my body reacts poorly and I see double and vomit, your body cannot and does not deal with everything you pour into it in the same perfect manner therefore on a lesser level, even food items that you consider to be the same are not which is why you need to eat from separate food groups.

The MBTI is far from perfect and some could even say more harmful than useful however it is also used as a basis for psychologists to build a more comprehensive personality mapper so your overused quip about the "kitchen table" is nothing more than that. Much of innovation happens in a garage but the kitchen table seems to be pertinent somehow in everyone's slandering of the MBTI as if you need a lab for psychology.

Astrology has been tested repeatedly and found to have no bearing or basis for the aspects of a person's personality however when itemized with the others once again proves my point regarding the "lowest common denominator". People group things together that they disapprove of and throw in one that's universally considered trite as a persuasion tactic. It happens ad nauseum in politics and should be avoided if at all possible.

@mattersauce MBTI is pure woo hoo. It has no scientific basis. It was created after the mother read one of Jung's books and told her daughter about it. They took what she read and generalized it. Neither mother nor daughter had any training in Jungian thought. It has been proven over and over that MBTI has no merit whatsovever.

@jwd45244 The method in which something was discovered nor the background of a creator actually invalidate the merit of an idea or concept. Your repeated attack on the creators instead of the MBTI itself is a useful debate strategy for people who are easily drawn off topic and get dazzled by character attacks. Unfortunately it proves only that you've bought into the negative side talking points instead of reviewing the actual merit of the MBTI and the fact that it has been used by psychologists to begin building the Big 5 and analyze how the concept of the MBTI can be improved.

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Simply put, yes. That’s not really all that common in my profession, but I wish it was. You can keep your rocks that you “charged” at that “vortex” in Sedona. It’s a rock. You can also keep your reiki and your reflexology. Show me valid research that supports the practice, and I’ll revisit the possibility, but until then: No evidence = No belief.

You mean all that Sedona stuff is b.s?!?!?
Then just think of the plummeting house values... 🙂 🙂

0

I would like have some evidence of any god . But even if is true . I decided myself stay without gods

All other factors can be eliminated in a discussion of belief in a deity except personal experience. f another person tells you s/he has had a personal experience with God--He spoke with the person or some other tangible, physical event---you can neither prove nor disprove that experience. Your only response has to be that you had not experienced such an event, not that you either believe or disbelieve it. All other religious beliefs can be (and have been) dispatched rather easily.

2

If someone presents me with a statement, I may base my belief or non-belief on it on many things instead of proof - though proof is always preferable, I may not have the knowledge to correctly interpret that proof one way or the other, or proof may not be available. For example the trustworthiness and expertise, I am not a physicist and am educated in that subject only to A-level; therefore if a physicist tells me something that seems plausible, I'll defer to her greater knowledge of the subject and decide that what she says is probably true (if it doesn't seem plausible, I'll check her academic reputation and see if any other physicists corroborate what she says). Likewise, if my friend says he saw a herd of deer on his way to work, I don't question it because I know deer exist and that he traveled to work through an area where deer live, even though I didn't see the deer myself and he can't prove that he did, either (this is also why I believe the USA exists - I've never seen it, but enough people say they live there to make it seem more probable than not that it actually does exist, however unlikely it seems to the rest of the world). Meanwhile, if someone tells me something that doesn't seem plausible - perhaps my friend arrives at work the next day and says he saw a dinosaur on his way in, I'm rather less likely to believe it because it's implausible due to my knowledge that there haven't been any dinosaurs around here for quite some time. Subjects such as astrology fall into that last category - what proponents claim is so implausible, I don't need evidence either way.

Jnei Level 8 Nov 7, 2018

You are right the post covers a broad area.There is no short answer .Science is always updating and correcting as technology advances.We take from it what we can understand and sometimes refuse information if we already have formed our opinion.

0

It's a simple question. Why believe in something that is not yet proven. Hearsay is hearsay. And i don't need junks like those. ?

Reliance upon learning that some idea, philosophy, belief, or, yes, even what we like to call "reality," is not as certain as people generally believe. In addition to the incredible power to know, we humans also have an unfortunate and inherent limit to how and what we can know. Here is a comment by a prominent scientist about the subject of "scientifically proven": "Scientists tend not to use that phrase all that often.

The scientific method is more about “failing to disprove” things, or showing things have been detected or match within a level of statistical significance.

Similarly a single peer-reviewed scientific paper in a reputable journal is usually insufficient to be more than just “interesting” or “shown by one group” - when multiple groups round the world corroborate the idea, then it starts to be seen as something that the next “tier” of knowledge can be built on.

“Science” just creates a model of how things work, that we can use to make repeatable and reliable predictions. These models are used (and hence “proven&rdquo😉 up to the point that they fail to predict something that is." I hasten to point out that scientific proof is the strongest indication of what IS IN REALITY, all one need do is look back through history to discover the many solid conclusions that have later been superseded by subsequent research. That is, however, the best we can do. Everything we think we "know" is subject to modification or total rejection. The real problem lies in those beliefs that are not provable AT ALL, such as belief in a deity. If you feel so moved, read the brief explanation of this issue posted below.

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scientific method demands it

2

While I may find a lot of things interesting, it doesn't mean I believe their claims. I need the data before I believe.

2

Yes evidence-based is best. Show your work, show me your numbers, give me some lovely and tasty numbers and data to crunch. 😀

3

I totally use the Scientific method towards every thing I want to know.
So, Yes,if empirical evidence that shows me something that I though was wrong, I would gladly change my mind.

4

Provide credible, verifiable proof of anything that I reject, and I'll reconsider my position.

4

Long time advocate of Skepticism and Critical Thinking.

2

Yup. I’m a natural born skeptic.

5

Yes, if evidence contradicts any of my beliefs I will follow the evidence.

2

I hold no beliefs other than the mundane navigational things we all use to make it through daily life without cognitive overload. I am an evidentialist when it comes to anything else.

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Yep!

0

I am not looking for evidence to walk a spiritual path. It simply makes me feel better. If religion,God, Jesus does that for someone else, good. As long as they don't push it on me.
I have participated in all that is labeled super natural. I enjoy it.
None of these things, spiritual walks not super natural are proven true ..but if it makes me feel better believing some of it, why not?
It harmless. If a good friend tried to talk me out of any..I would get new friends.

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Well, of course! Unless Gwyneth Paltrow is vouching for the product, in which case I'm convinced of the rigorous testing it's undergone. ?

[vox.com]

1

It was only a few years ago I learned how to not have a blind spot while operating my car. I was convinced it was a better way to go after trying for myself. I make sure all mirrors are pointed correctly now. It drives others crazy but the evidence was there and it is a safer way to go.

Give me proof of a better way and I will adopt it. Simple.

1

Yup. Psuedoscience is a total pet peeve of mine, can't stand it.

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oh god yes. I'm the biggest sceptic out there.

1

If I pulp my thumb with a framing hammer I believe that hurts. Astral travel, zero point energy and seeing the everything and the nothing of the universe together I believe happens to me sometimes but I can't prove it. But it sure feels plausable. Is that what I should believe, that they were not real experiences?

1

Yes, I require evidence for my beliefs. It will depend on the claim for the amount of evidence.

2

Go vegetarian! Don't believe the stigma surrounding it!

1

Not only evidence but data to support/prove something is measurable and repeatable. This applies for everything. Of course there will be gray areas where one have to push harder to keep moving forward to get the right answers, the key is not to take the easy way out "God made it that way"

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