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Full Idea
Having a belief demands in addition appreciating the contrast between true belief and false, between appearance and reality, mere seeming and being.
Gist of Idea
A belief requires understanding the distinctions of true-and-false, and appearance-and-reality
Source
Donald Davidson (Three Varieties of Knowledge [1991], p.209)
Book Ref
Davidson,Donald: 'Subjective, Intersubjective, Objective' [OUP 2001], p.209
A Reaction
This sets the bar very high for belief (never mind knowledge), and seems to imply that animals don't have beliefs. How should we describe their cognitive states then? I would say these criteria only apply to actual knowledge.
| 21801 | Unlike Descartes' atomism, Spinoza held a holistic view of belief [Spinoza, by Schmid] |
| 18969 | How do you distinguish three beliefs from four beliefs or two beliefs? [Quine] |
| 6397 | The concept of belief can only derive from relationship to a speech community [Davidson] |
| 8867 | A belief requires understanding the distinctions of true-and-false, and appearance-and-reality [Davidson] |
| 3491 | Beliefs are part of a network, and also exist against a background [Searle] |
| 3490 | Beliefs only make sense as part of a network of other beliefs [Searle] |
| 3100 | You have to reaffirm all your beliefs when you make a logical inference [Harman] |
| 2502 | How do you count beliefs? [Fodor] |
| 2735 | Could you have a single belief on its own? [Audi,R] |