Practical Reason

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Lesson 1: Create Your Own Belief System

Introduction

In writing this chapter, my aim is to teach you how to create your own belief system for more clarity in your own life. To this end: (1) I will define a belief system; (2) I will explain the applications derived from the definitions; (3) I will provide examples of belief systems; (4) I will help you practice creating your own belief system.

Section 1: Definitions

All belief systems require axioms that cannot be argued. Thus:

Start by clearly stating your axioms.
Then, consider statements based on those axioms and empirical evidence to see if they should be added to your belief system.

Axioms are assumptions taken to be true. Statements are premises supported by the axioms and empirical evidence. While axioms cannot be argued, statements can.

Section 2: Applications

Consider the following hypothetical. If the proposition "women never fart" is an axiom, then you cannot argue with it. But if this proposition is a statement, you can.

Accordingly:

Do not confuse axioms with laws of logic. A logical system needs axioms and so laws of logic are not axioms.
If a person states a proposition to be an axiom, do not bother arguing with him about it. As an empiricist, I would avoid arguing with somebody's rationalist axioms. However, I mindn't arguing with somebody's rationalist statements since statements are best obtained by matching empirical evidence to the stated axioms. So, even though I am an empiricist, I would argue with a rationalist about the how strongly or weakly one of his statements congrues with his self-proclaimed axioms, and I would avoid arguing about why I disagree with his self-proclaimed axioms (even if the person has an internally contradictory set of axioms).

Section 3: Examples

A Practicalist Belief System:

Axioms:

Induction works.

Statements:

A talented population can produce excellence by removing the constraints of tradition.
Ancient Greece was a talented culture that achieved excellence. Notable figures include: Aristarchus, Archimedes, Solon, Pythagoras, Protagoras, Thucydides, Aristophanes, and Alexander the Great.
Historically, all cultures that achieved excellence by removing the constraints of tradition, fell and never recovered. For example, Ancient Greece.

Induction just means perceptual experience or sensory experience. There is a difference between "Induction works" and "Induction justifies knowledge acquisition." The former concerns functionality, and the latter concerns correspondence truth (more on that later in lesson 2). Based on the one axiom, a practicalist neither posits truth to be objective (stance-independent) nor pursues objective truth. Instead, a practicalist will search for statements that congrue with the axiom that "Induction works"; those statements will relate to things working or functioning properly and not on the objective truth-value of things.

In the second statement, I deliberately excluded Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle from the list of notable figures. Why? Because their accomplishments were Ptolemaic, and Ptolemny was an ideological rationalist. Ideological rationalism contradicts the Practicalist having only one axiom that only assumes induction works.

Interestingly, I include Alexander the Great on the list, and he was mentored by Aristotle. Does this mean I should include Aristotle on the list of notable figures? The answer is no. With induction alone, it is impossible to know what Alexander the Great would've achieved without Aristotle's mentorship.

Section 4: Practice

Start by clearly stating your axioms. Then, consider statements based on those axioms and empirical evidence to see if they should be added to your belief system.