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No evidence used as evidence

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There are many reasons for believing something that we might have no evidence of, such as alien life, ghosts, God, folklore, superstitions, the future. When Logie-Baird was in the process of inventing the TV, he had no evidence to say that it would definately work, but he believed it would work. Then there is the old saying: 'if you believe in something enough, it will become real.'

There are those who think about life logically, scientifically and base their beliefs on hard fact. There are some that say: 'the fact that there is no evidence, is evidence itself to suggest it can't be real,' like God, for example. But then if we all thought so logically, what would happen to our imagination? We need to believe that the impossible is possible so that we can advance.

Does this then mean, that religion has aided our advancement by helping us to believe in something we have never witnessed, or does this power to believe in the impossible stem from something else? Without the ability to strongly believe in something, perhaps we would still all be hunter gatherers.

@joseph knecht,

joseph_knecht;73722 wrote:

There are many reasons for believing something that we might have no evidence of, such as alien life, ghosts, God, folklore, superstitions, the future.

Why should we believe in any of thee things? I concede that the future is fairly necessary to believe in, but why should I think it sensible to wear a potato around my neck to avoid rheumatism?

joseph_knecht;73722 wrote:

When Logie-Baird was in the process of inventing the TV, he had no evidence to say that it would definately work, but he believed it would work. Then there is the old saying: 'if you believe in something enough, it will become real.'

He knew the theory behind it, he saw a logical path to his desired outcome, he followed this path. So he knew that this could work in theory, and logically developed a method to build a machine to create the desired effect.

joseph_knecht;73722 wrote:

There are those who think about life logically, scientifically and base their beliefs on hard fact. There are some that say: 'the fact that there is no evidence, is evidence itself to suggest it can't be real,' like God, for example.

The line of thinking you cite is not logical, I have never heard of it. What you might be referring to is the principal known as Ockham's razor. When we have no evidence to back something up, or if we have two explanations, one being simpler and one being convoluted and long, we appeal to the principal of Ockham's razor when we disregard the longer option or say that we do not believe because we have no evidence. We do not go further to say that it necessarily isn't so unless the idea doesn't make any sense (and not just because we don't understand it, but because it is something like this: 'There is a round square at Berkeley', that is impossible by definition).

joseph_knecht;73722 wrote:

But then if we all thought so logically, what would happen to our imagination? We need to believe that the impossible is possible so that we can advance.

If you look at the processes that have come out of logical thinking, such as the Riemann surface, the Cartesian plane, all of mathematics and physics and engineering, you cannot help but draw the conclusion that logic and creativity are symbiotic rather than incompatible.

joseph_knecht;73722 wrote:

Does this then mean, that religion has aided our advancement by helping us to believe in something we have never witnessed

I doubt it, such tendencies were around long before organized religion.

joseph_knecht;73722 wrote:

or does this power to believe in the impossible stem from something else? Without the ability to strongly believe in something, perhaps we would still all be hunter gatherers.

Maybe, I don't know, but without our ability to strongly believe in something, we surely would not have wars. Some belief is necessary, as long as it does not turn into dogma or strong unflinching belief in the face of alternate possibilities or contrary evidence.

@joseph knecht,

It might be that the imagination seeks to find different evidences, not that it grounds itself on no evidence whatsoever. And in defining the new evidence and applying it to a new theory---well, don't we apply reason and logic?

If one wishes to believe in alien life, one doesn't stop at saying, "well, I believe in alien life because that is what I will to believe in." Doesn't one look for clues, or evidence, that support this belief, or to consider the possibility that we have overlooked some kinds of evidence that might suggest the existence of alien life, or perhaps have suppressed or "distorted" some acceptable evidence? "I believe in the existence of alien life, or at least the possibility that it might exist, and here is why I do....."- - -isn't this really a discussion of evidence?

@joseph knecht,

joseph_knecht;73722 wrote:

There are many reasons for believing something that we might have no evidence of, such as alien life, ghosts, God, folklore, superstitions, the future. When Logie-Baird was in the process of inventing the TV, he had no evidence to say that it would definately work, but he believed it would work. Then there is the old saying: 'if you believe in something enough, it will become real.'

There are those who think about life logically, scientifically and base their beliefs on hard fact. There are some that say: 'the fact that there is no evidence, is evidence itself to suggest it can't be real,' like God, for example. But then if we all thought so logically, what would happen to our imagination? We need to believe that the impossible is possible so that we can advance.

Does this then mean, that religion has aided our advancement by helping us to believe in something we have never witnessed, or does this power to believe in the impossible stem from something else? Without the ability to strongly believe in something, perhaps we would still all be hunter gatherers.

The story goes that a very strong skeptic once hung a rabbit's foot on his front door. A friend of his saw it and said to the skeptic, "Hey, I thought you did not believe in that kind of thing". The skeptic replied, "I still don't, but I heard that even if you don't believe in it, it sometimes works."

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