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Ethics

Is there any moral obligation to attempt to correct people who have an incorrect belief, even if their incorrect belief wasn't causing any harm? On the other hand, is it wrong to attempt to correct an incorrect belief if it does not cause harm and makes the incorrect belief holders happy? Thank you.
Accepted:
October 11, 2011

Comments

Oliver Leaman
October 16, 2011 (changed October 16, 2011) Permalink

It is difficult to think of an incorrect belief that is not harmful. On the other hand, if it were the case that there are such beliefs, and we do sometimes use them to motivate us, there still remains the problem that although on some occasions an incorrect belief may be harmless, it sets up within ourselves the disposition not to take seriously the difference between truth and falsity, and this is surely likely to be harmful on the whole.

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