Why beliefs matter

They are assumptions or abstractions about fundamental aspects of life and the world we live in. What you believe determines what you act on or do not work on to a large extent. Sometimes our beliefs are in direct opposition of what society has set as norms. At even fewer times someone may find it in themselves to stand up and act according to what they believe. There are two essential kinds of beliefs that influence individuals and society as a whole. The first kind of belief is religious , established by religions and followed by people.

The second is personal , cultivated by the individual. Religious beliefs are bound to the people or practice a specific faith. On the contrary, personal beliefs are held by everyone, whether or not the follow a particular religion. Religious beliefs come from values referring to ideas like existence, divine intervention, morality, salvation, and worship.

Most of the time, these ideas are arranged according to a plan or system so that they are lawfully established in that religion. Followers are expected to follow the belief system by default. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page.

Preview — Why Beliefs Matter by E. It explains that the multi-layered nature of our present descriptions of the world is unavoidable, not because of anything about the world but bec This book discusses deep problems about our place in the world with a minimum of technical jargon. Get A Copy. Hardcover , 1st edition , pages. More Details Other Editions 5.

Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Why Beliefs Matter , please sign up. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 3. Rating details. Sort order. Sep 29, Hasham Ahmad rated it really liked it. To be fair he picks a well reasoned fight with almost everyone that has a schism of belief that affects their work, from Plato to Dawkins to the Pope.

To his further credit he actually presents his world view well, so perhaps for the thoughtful among the atheists, reductionists, determinists, scientists, Platonists, and maybe even the religious, it could be quite acceptable, reasonable, and However, he should have left the chapter on science and religion out of this book, or limited it to the topic of 'scientists and religion' specifically.

He himself admits his knowledge of world religion is narrow so his arguments are often weak, typical, and in some cases just naive. Nevertheless, i will recommend this book anytime anyone ever tells me they believe in science or think that mathematics is the language of the universe etc. Mar 31, N rated it really liked it. Mostly I will take away from this book the beautifully compelling idea of pluralism of thought, that is imbibed so beautifully in the way he presents scientific ideas and personalities.

I loved how deep his understanding of the views of famous scientists is, with fascinating insight into their personal philosophies that might have driven their theoretical work, and how we tend to reduce scientists to their single biggest idea or unified thread of worldview when in actuality they are complex and pluralistic and holding a variety of world views at different points of their life or in different fields of their life, such that it is intellectually impoverished to seek to overfit all their diverse set of datapoints into a veneer of internal consistency.

Wittgeinstein, Einstein on Platonism and Religion, Godel, so many of the most famous thinkers are shown in all their complexity. His method of argument is similarly beautifully pluralistic I don't know if the internal consistency of pluralism is a paradox. He mentions the opposite case of a trefoil knot that is simple but complex to describe.

Notes Fabulous knowledge of scientists and their internal contradictions. Einsteins Platonism. Astronomy and mechanics were two very different fields. Log tables had a great run of yrs since John Napier Sidereal coordinates were similarly tabulated by Kepler. Soon pendulum made tine measurable, now physics could make huge strides. The book argues that 'absolutist' ideas of the objectivity of science, dating back to Plato, continue to mislead generations of both theoretical physicists and theologians.

It explains that the multi-layered nature of our present descriptions of the world is unavoidable, not because of anything about the world, but because of our own human natures. It tries to rescue mathematics from the singular and exceptional status that it has been assigned, as much by those who understand it as by those who do not.

Working throughout from direct quotations from many of the important contributors to its subject, it concludes with a penetrating criticism of many of the recent contributions to the often acrimonious debates about science and religions. Preface 1. The Scientific Revolution 2. The Human Condition 3. The Nature of Mathematics 4. It explains that the multi-layered nature of our present descriptions of the world is unavoidable, not because of anything about the world, but because of our own human natures.

It tries to rescue mathematics from the singular and exceptional status that it has been assigned, as much by those who understand it as by those who do not. Working throughout from direct quotations from many of the important contributors to its subject, it concludes with a penetrating criticism of many of the recent contributions to the often acrimonious debates about science and religions.

This book discusses deep problems about our place in the world with a minimum of jargon. It argues that 'absolutist' ideas dating back to Plato continue to mislead generations of mathematicians, physicists, and theologians, and reveals the underlying reasons for the current conflicts between science and religion. Preface ; 1.