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From Opinion to Faith
What is Opinion?
Cant have opinion on things youre intimate witho Experience is so richo Cant encapsulate it in a few words
Reflect on how opinion develop (ex: stereotypes)P. 123-124 (reflects on structure of Opinion)
Something that starts as an impression which turns into a claim(Impressionmaintenancedepersonalized Claim)
o Impression is not an opiniono Maintenance
something that can be backed up Something that is asserted (reason to believe
o Opinion when it becomes depersonalizedo Depersonalized Claim
Removing the I from the sentence Assuming that it is something everyone
believes
This occurs because of an absence of reflectionOpinion
Tends to act like an organism picking which informationsupports it and dismisses claims that destroy it.
(Self affirming character of opinion)
Gives example of political opiniono Can have opinion and not opiniono Actually are sincere (factual rather than opinion)o But some parts are still at the level of opinion
Perhaps commitment and opinion are mutually exclusive
Opinion experience of distance Opinions are maintained when distance is maintained
Religious Opinion p.121
part of my metal furniture, nothing more
o It is not evolving anymore to the extent that I live my belief, it is in no way an opinion represents it to his mind but does not live it external to me Commitment to God
o Prayer, challenge something central to your life,seeking to know God better
Religious Opiniono Does not transform your lifeo Does not push you to have a relationship with God
p. 129-130Atheism as Religious Opinion
God does not exist Suppose God is all powerful, all knowing, all good
o Existence of Evil At the heart of all arguments is a definition of God
o opinion about how God should exist w/o knowing himo Against an Idea of God rather than God itself
Two Arguments
If he exits I should have an experience of God If God exists then there wouldnt be bad things
o Presupposition of knowing what God would doo When you think someone would do something in a
certain situation it requires a bit of experience that
someone has acted that wayConviction
p.130
A limit, an end, a bar that has been drawn The inalterability of ConvictionEx: Politics
There has been an attempt to ground it in empirical data but likeopinion stops developing
Everything is past anything from the future is treated as past Anticipated past, projecting ideas
p.131Something dishonest: Conviction
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2 possible reasons
I have considered all and I concludeo Impossible: no one can know everything
I affirm there are objections but they wont shake myconvictions
o Dishonestwhy wouldnt you want a betterunderstanding?
o p.133: either I am delusional or I am choosing tobelieve this lie
I can only say that
with what I know now, I can conclude that
Religious Conviction
they treat it as the final and fixed version of religion limiting to what something is
*Authentic faith and truth are not mutually exclusive a relationship (distance and closeness bad for relationship)
Belief
not just a certain set of beliefs without conviction, is belief not realistic? Temporal difference between conviction and belief
o Authentic Belief being open, growthp. 134
Clarifying terminology
Believing in(not believing that)metaphor of creditassurance based on trust between Creditor and Creditee
I am the person who is trusting (the bank)o I am lending myself to God or this x (fully or not)o Trusting that this self will be returned to youo Allowing our worlds to be dictated to himo Gives up his freedom because he trusts
Not an Idea but a relationship the x can onlybe a thou not a thing
Faith in science: an assurance (faith in scientist)
p. 135
Surrender of oneself
If belief is without conviction isnt it a bit relative?
Rather than conviction/certainty belief is based on trustPurely phenomenological not interested in deciding if God exists butdiscusses on what a believer goes through (very subjective)
X is a thou
x can respond p.135Belief is also an experience of being disappointed
2 implications1) Vulnerability to someone increase trust
a. Level of trustb. Certain dept st I too am destroyed if my image of the X
is destroyed2) The fact that I am disappointed presupposed an assumption of
how X should act (an opinion or conviction)
a. Challenge of how one should reactb. Leads to a pure faith
Faith becoming a unconditionalityo Even if X isnt what I thought it would be I will expand
my love to encompass the thou
Love and Faithlikens it to marriage
There is possibility for unconditional love of creature forcreature perhaps how is faith itself
an invincible assurance bared on being itself Implies purification of Opinion Faith Growing of faith to unconditionality