Topics Knowledge

Question If enough people believe in something, will it be true? For example, does reality conform to the laws that we, as a group, choose to believe in?

Accepted:
October 16, 2005

Comments

Isn't this obviously false? If everyone believes that jumping off a tall building will feel good, that will not save them, will it? There was a time when most every, perhaps every, human being believed that the sun rotated about the earth. We know they were wrong. So, we can appreciate that what we believe (even what all of us believe) is one thing, what's true is another.

It might be worth adding, nevertheless, that there are some facts that obtain in virtue of enough of the right people believing that they do. You and I are "going out" if and only if we each believe that we are--or so it seems. It also seems that the market will go up if and only if enough of the right people believe that it will. As Alex rightly points out, though, these cases cases don't extend very far--e.g., to making the sun rotate about the earth.

Question If enough people believe in something, will it be true? For example, does reality conform to the laws that we, as a group, choose to believe in? Accepted:October 16, 2005

Question If enough people believe in something, will it be true? For example, does reality conform to the laws that we, as a group, choose to believe in?

Accepted:
October 16, 2005