Knowledge

What does a person mean when somebody says they have faith in something but don't know that something to be true? Is this a psychological evasion?

Comments

It might help to think of such faith as akin to trust. We can trust a hunch about who will win a game without knowing that we are right; and we can trust a stranger to help us without knowing that they will do so.

Some philosophers think that such trust can be reasonable because our unreflective inclinations are usually based on some information, whether or not we recognize what it is. The hunch about the winner is based on something we have observed, perhaps unconsciously; and the expectation of a stranger's help is based on some innate recognition that most people are 'programmed' to be helpful to others.

Other philosophers think that such trust can be reasonable because it tends to tip the balance in favor of the state in question -- the trusted player being more likely to win in virtue of our trust, and the trusted stranger more likely to help in virtue of our trust.

Thus, while we may sometimes trust as a way of evading either the effort or the anticipated outcome of carefully considering the relevant evidence, not all trust is evasive in this way. If the trust is based on unarticulated evidence, or if the trust helps to bring about the anticipated result, then it can be quite reasonable to trust in the absence of knowledge.

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