Skeptics: Is there a belief you hold on to despite that there is no evidence? (See details)

Nope.

There is a difference, however, between believing something and acting on the least absurd possibility. One might act as if something is true without believing it if the evidence for the alternatives is even worse.

I should also note that I’m notorious in my department for not believing much.

I’ll bite.

I have two main beliefs against all evidence to the contrary.

1. I believe in liberty and justice for all. A cursory read of any US newspaper will show that it’s an unfounded belief, yet I persist.

2. I believe that a free and fair marketplace can lead to more prosperity, more production, more benefit for all (at least “all who aren’t thieves or leeches”). Yet there’s no evidence that we have anything approaching a free and fair marketplace.

These beliefs help me to maintain my sanity and will to survive.

As a nurse I know a fair bit about flu virus vaccines. Yet I still believe they made me sick the twice I had them! I would deny this to any patient, though!

None.
@faye The people I know who have flu injections always get the flu, I refuse to have them and very rarely get sick.

Sometimes when something works out just right, I can’t help but feel like things happen for a reason.

The cynic in me would say that I still believe in true love, despite any compelling supporting evidence.

I also have some way more boring scientific hypotheses that I am convinced are true based on personal experience despite literature to the contrary. But at least one of these I am attempting to design an experiment to investigate myself. So maybe then I’ll be convinced.

I think there is probably other life somewhere out there in the universe. This is because I think it’s more outlandish to believe that anything in this huge universe is utterly unique. But I’m not so hard-headed about it that I’d hold onto the belief if given good evidence that suggests I’m wrong.

Not to start an OT debate, but if there if there is a correlation between getting vaccinated and getting sick, I can think of a rational explation for it. The vaccine doesn’t begin to work for a couple of weeks, but immediately after getting vaccinated, people might begin to feel “invincible” and wash their hands less and therefore be more likely to get sick. Just a thought.

Actually, I do have another somewhat irrational belief, even if it is based on some observation that seems to indicate its truth – I can’t explain ‘why’ it would be true, which is the irrational part, yet it does seem to be true.

I believe in a sort of ‘karma’. I believe that there really are ebbs and flows of, oh, call it ‘energy’ for lack of a better term, ‘psychic energy’, maybe, that makes the proverb true about “As you sow, so shall you reap” and “Cast your bread upon the waters, and you will find it.” It seems to be true, but I don’t believe that “God does it.”

@CyanoticWasp I used to believe in Karma also, but I don’t anymore. But I know many who do.

Okay, my embarrassing belief is that I think there is a musical instrument for anybody. Everybody has an innate ability to play music, and if you don’t like doing it, it’s because you haven’t found the right one.

Ah, well mine is my iPod, then.

Hmmm. None that I can think of; I’ve gone through much the same process that you have.

I believe that all people are basically good.

@GingerMinx if not everyone is immunised then this sort of thing happens. Flu vaccines aren’t the best example because the Flu virus changes frequently, but for other diseases not immunising is not only stupid, it’s selfish.

@bluemukaki Not always true, my sisters son couldn’t have certain vaccines because he was allergic to the substance they used with it.

@Rarebear There may be an instrument out there for me- conch shell? Has to be something that doesn’t depend on notes, unless music and machine are in matching colors.

Extra-terrestrial lifeforms the big ones…not bacteria
That when you die…you die..that’s it.
That a smerf lives in the center of the sun

I believe there is life out there on other planets somewhere. However I don’t necessarily believe that it’s sentient life and I don’t believe that aliens come here and abduct people.

I believe in God and still claim my Christianity despite the fact I think there’s alot of religious BS out there. I’m not ready to believe in aliens until they show up, and like @CyanoticWasp I believe that good begats good-very sorta-kinda possibly karmaish-ish…

I’m pretty sure I believe in a higher power and feel much the same about Christianity as @jlelandg does. I’m pretty sure there’s probably life somewhere else in the universe, although it could just be something boring like bacteria; the universe is a massive place after all.

The main one that most skeptics would really tear me up for is a belief in free will, and the notion that the mind can somehow create uncaused causes. I find it too difficult to accept (despite the evidence in favor of it) that we’re basically pre-programmed to do the things we are going to do without the ability to shape and mold our decisions.

That I might win the lottery.

I believe in God, my family, and ice cream.

To all you skeptics who think you don’t believe ANYTHING without proof, I bet you’re just not thinking hard enough.

(despite no real evidence)

@lilalila Funny, but I don’t think it’s true. It’s quite literally my job to think about these things and to come up with arguments for and against. I’m not saying that I’ve never believed in anything without evidence, but only that I do not anymore. Plus, there is a difference between having no evidence whatsoever and having only scant evidence in conjunction with evidence against alternatives. I will certainly hold provisional beliefs in the latter case, but I will also apportion my commitment to my evidence.

And now a word from our sponsor:

“It seems evident that the dispute between the skeptics and dogmatists is entirely verbal, or, at least, regards only the degree of doubt and assurance which we ought to indulge with regard to all reasoning: and such disputes are commonly, at the bottom, verbal and admit not of any precise determination. No philosophical dogmatist denies that there are difficulties both with regard to the senses and to all science, and that there difficulties are, in a regular, logical method, absolutely insolvable. No skeptic denies that we lie under an absolute necessity, notwithstanding these difficulties, of thinking, and believing, and reasoning, with regard to all kinds of subjects, and even of frequently assenting with confidence and security. The only difference, then, between these sects, if they merit that name, is that the skeptic, from habit, caprice, or inclination, insists most on the difficulties; the dogmatist, for like reasons, on the necessity.”
—David Hume

Though I HATE to admit it, I believe in LOVE!@ Might sound odd, but I have no reason to believe in this, yet, I still do. :/

Everything that’s out there that we simply don’t have the tools yet to understand. I believe there are alternate dimensions, I believe people may exist after they die in this dimension and interact with us, in some way we have no name for as of yet.

1. Aliens
2. Comunism
3. That my football club will win the championship (Even when it is mathematically impossible!)

Now seriously…I do believe that all the beings on earth got here from space! I just do…not believe that we all came from water!

Give comunism a chance but remember: Comunism isn’t what Russia, Cuba or China, good or bad, made of it…Not even close…!

Question to all in this thread- how many of you really consider yourself skeptics?

@crisw I wasn’t really going to go there, actually. You and I both know who the skeptics really are. I was going to share the question with each of them, but Fluther software wouldn’t let me share with multiple people at once.

@Rarebear

There are a few voices in this thread I hadn’t heard from before, actually.

Also, out of curiosity, do you consider the voice or whistling to be an instrument?

@crisw Though not as severe as Pyrrho or Carneades, I am quite in line with Hume (who I quoted above). And like Hume, I am sometimes mistaken for a “pure” skeptic.

@crisw I consider myself a skeptic – I, like, you know totally get the Skeptical Inquirer and various such magazines and stuff ~ (which is actually true).

Some place belief in existence of other life in the universe as counting as an example…

I don’t see it…

We know that there is life in the universe (Hi there…). An N of 1 admitedly.

Now , imagine it’s just life here, existing on this one planet, by this star…representing one of a couple of hundred billion stars in this galaxy…one of close to 200 billion galaxies in the observable universe… Imagine amongst all that immensity of potential…just life here.

Why on Earth (excuse the pun) would this belief be more supported by the evidence than believing that there is likely to be life out there as well?

I think there is other life out there by shear probabilities, knowledge of the ubiquitousness in the universe of the basic building blocks (CHON) for known life (let alone other forms.. perhaps silica based), the relatively short length of time it took for life to take hold on this planet once the planet was potentially habitable, increasing discoveries of other solar systems with planets, the range of circumstances for getting liquid water to occur on bodies (the moon Europa for example), etc..

To argue that life here is all there is to throw some unsubstantiated factor into the equation that prevents life from occurring elsewhere…ever?! The evidence is entirely on the side of life existing elsewhere in the universe. We have zero reason to believe otherwise. Frankly to do so is to apply failed Ptolemaic views from astronomy, to biology.

So if I rule that belief out, I have a hard time thinking of anything that I actively believe that is unsubstantiated by evidence.

And if I, or any of you, find anything that counts, I’ll gladly hunt it down and shoot it. :)

I believe that humanity will make it through all its current crises and that the future will be better, though certainly not utopian. Part of this is belief and part of this is the feeling that if we are not optimistic, then what’s the point?

I believe that there are things that humans currently don’t have the knowledge to “prove.” I also believe the banjo doesn’t come under the heading of Karma!

@Dutchess_III Only if you hit someone over the head with it.

I see stars, man!

I am totally convinced Aliens exist, have always existed and that they’re watching us. Nothing or no one could change my mind. And also that there is some life form after death.

@Aster

“Nothing or no one could change my mind.”

No skeptic would ever say this.

@crisw “No skeptic would ever say this.”

Exactly. As hard as it is to accept certain things, a true skeptic will always be willing to change their minds if presented with sufficient quality evidence that’s been verified as accurate. I really have a hard time understanding how someone could ever live their life any differently.

I’m moving more and more towards not believing anything at all without empirical evidence, but sometimes I have a ‘spiritual’ opinion towards consciousness because it’s so unexplainable. That opinions fades pretty quickly, but it’s still there.

@Blackberry Interesting. To me, though, something that is “unexplainable” just means that “there’s not yet an explanation.”

@Rarebear I agree. Daniel Dennet wrote a lengthy book where tried to explain consciousness. It was pretty tough, though. I’ve been reading it with breaks lol.

—some sort of higher/ Other power (although I have no idea what it ultimately looks like)

—myriad spiritual ideas, some of which I’ll change my mind about before I blow this pop stand

—life on other planets. Seriously, we cannot be all there is in this vast universe.

@peridot What kind of spiritual ideas?

@Rarebear—Hm. Well, the ones I can articulate (I’m procrastinating against starting the day right now, so am under cognitive distress, LOL):

I believe your loved ones do watch over you, and can hear what you say to them. In some cases, they can respond to you and even influence the real world to help you or let you know they’re “there”. Since they’ve crossed over, they really do get the big picture now, but also know they can’t wave their hands and make your life fabulous. While we’re in the flesh, there’s a lot we don’t get to know about… gotta find it out for ourselves.

We are spiritual beings in the flesh, primarily to learn and develop, I think. I have issues with how this is done sometimes… when my time comes, I am going to have a LOT of questions for Management! LOL

Animals have souls as well, although I don’t think they’re here for the same reasons we are. I do believe the ones we share a bond with will be with us on the other side.

The world’s religions have the fundamentals right (look for the common thread between them), but then they diverge on things like proper words, specific beliefs, etc. And that’s where it gets ugly.

There’s energy all around us that I think can potentially be used, but is ignored/misused by most people. Sigh… yeah, something like the Force. That’s oversimplifying a bit, but hopefully illuminates what I’m trying to say.

Stuff like that… sorry about the length of this post!

Some of it I’m married to (but don’t automatically want to slay anyone who disagrees with me), other parts will probably change as I talk to others and have further experiences.

@peridot Do you consider yourself a skeptic? And if so, what does that word mean to you? (Just trying to make you procrastinate more).

@Rarebear Evil man. You are succeeding, too! :)

I dunno that I’d consider myself a skeptic. I do think there’s a lot going on that science currently can’t answer for or quantify, and am okay with that. A skeptic generally wants cold hard facts to back up a claim, and ones as watertight as possible. “Unconventional” fits my philosophy better.

Skeptics and questioners, IMO, tend to not be at peace with the world (anyone who fits the description, feel free to yea or nay this). I envy people whose thought processes end with “It’s in God (or Whomever)‘s hands”, even if I can’t quite get behind such complacency a lot of the time.