Philosophy Discussion Forums

Is believing someone the same as being certain they're saying the truth? Or is it just an assumption? Can you ever know if someone is saying the truth when they say things like "I love you" or "this is cool"? It just seems to me like I can't exclude the possibility that the person is lying and acting.

Joker2510 wrote: ↑August 14th, 2019, 8:10 am Is believing someone the same as being certain they're saying the truth? Or is it just an assumption? Can you ever know if someone is saying the truth when they say things like "I love you" or "this is cool"? It just seems to me like I can't exclude the possibility that the person is lying and acting.

I have learned to disregard statements about the profession of "love."

As a substitute, replace the word "love" with "want to have sex with …" and then the sentence has more meaning.

Otherwise, not.

h_k_s wrote: ↑August 15th, 2019, 1:28 pm I have learned to disregard statements about the profession of "love."

As a substitute, replace the word "love" with "want to have sex with …" and then the sentence has more meaning.

But, I don't want to have sex with my dog.

Joker2510 wrote: ↑August 14th, 2019, 8:10 am Is believing someone the same as being certain they're saying the truth? Or is it just an assumption? Can you ever know if someone is saying the truth when they say things like "I love you" or "this is cool"? It just seems to me like I can't exclude the possibility that the person is lying and acting.

That's the question of the reliability or trustworthiness of testimony: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/testimony-episprob/

Joker2510 wrote: ↑August 14th, 2019, 8:10 am Is believing someone the same as being certain they're saying the truth? Or is it just an assumption? Can you ever know if someone is saying the truth when they say things like "I love you" or "this is cool"? It just seems to me like I can't exclude the possibility that the person is lying and acting.

I might believe someone is honestly expressing opinions about what they consciously think, or not. I'd still expect their subconscious to impact their actual behaviour, see h_k_s comment about having sex with. I gave up on truth so long ago that part isn't worth addressing.

Joker2510 wrote: ↑August 14th, 2019, 8:10 am Is believing someone the same as being certain they're saying the truth? Or is it just an assumption? Can you ever know if someone is saying the truth when they say things like "I love you" or "this is cool"? It just seems to me like I can't exclude the possibility that the person is lying and acting.

I think you've got it backwards, believing someone means you aren't certain they are telling the truth (but you believe them anyway). If you only believe folks who you know are telling the truth, you have no faith in their truth telling.

Generally, I take on an "Innocent until proven Guilty" mindset where I generally believe a person until it is proven I can no longer trust them. This has burned me a couple time in the past, including by my parents(which really sucks). For me, once you have burned that bridge, that's the end of it.

Kilvayne wrote: ↑August 16th, 2019, 10:13 pm Generally, I take on an "Innocent until proven Guilty" mindset where I generally believe a person until it is proven I can no longer trust them. This has burned me a couple time in the past, including by my parents(which really sucks). For me, once you have burned that bridge, that's the end of it.

Credibility is certainly a major issue with most other people.

Joker2510 wrote: ↑August 14th, 2019, 8:10 am Is believing someone the same as being certain they're saying the truth?

This seems to be a specific example of some general epistemological principles, mainly the relationship between belief and certainty or knowledge. Would you say believing that your favorite sports team will win a game is the same as saying you know they will win? Probably not.

The best representation of belief I've seen is that of a spectrum, where, given a proposition, you can believe that proposition is true or believe that proposition is false, to some degree of certainty. So for the proposition "my team will win the game", you can believe that to be true, but have a low degree of certainty. Same for the proposition "My friend is telling the truth". You can believe they're telling the truth and be uncertain about it, or believe them with absolute certainty. And just like with other propositions, you believe based on the evidence, such as if their actions follow or contradict their words.