Some of the things I have faith in, because it just makes so much sense to do so.
Examples:
1. The existence of an independent, objective reality. This isn't something I, or anyone else, can actually prove, but what are the alternatives? Believing that when I die so will everyone else? Would reality just cease to be, would it pop out of existence if I did? No, of course not.
2. The reality of the past. What has happened cannot be changed, because it's over; time has moved on. It's there, it happened, and nothing we do now can change it.
3. Speaking of time, the passage of time is something I accept as well (and it's linear, not cyclical). How can anyone who has experienced the passing of the years and seen their own body age, not accept this fact?
4. The existence of other minds. I know that I exist (cogito, ergo sum - Descartes) so why would I believe others do not?
5. And finally, I believe that we, as a species, know practically nothing about how reality actually is, about what, if anything, may lie beyond what we can perceive (ex. beyond the boundaries of the observable universe). I don't know what may lie beyond what we're capable of apprehending with our limited abilities, but I'd bet everything I have that there is more to reality than just this.
1. The existence of an independent, objective reality. This isn't something I, or anyone else, can actually prove, but what are the alternatives? Believing that when I die so will everyone else? Would reality just cease to be, would it pop out of existence if I did? No, of course not.
2. The reality of the past. What has happened cannot be changed, because it's over; time has moved on. It's there, it happened, and nothing we do now can change it.
3. Speaking of time, the passage of time is something I accept as well (and it's linear, not cyclical). How can anyone who has experienced the passing of the years and seen their own body age, not accept this fact?
4. The existence of other minds. I know that I exist (cogito, ergo sum - Descartes) so why would I believe others do not?
5. And finally, I believe that we, as a species, know practically nothing about how reality actually is, about what, if anything, may lie beyond what we can perceive (ex. beyond the boundaries of the observable universe). I don't know what may lie beyond what we're capable of apprehending with our limited abilities, but I'd bet everything I have that there is more to reality than just this.
