Are false religions and conspiracy theories inherently hazardous?
Of course there are many thoughts on the meaning of "truth", but here is one from Wikipedia attributed to William James:
Do you agree that false religions and false conspiracy theories are inherently hazardous? Maybe these false beliefs will not always lead to negative results, but as a rule-of-thumb they increase that probability?
Then we might ask if society should try to discourage these false beliefs and by what means.
Of course there are many thoughts on the meaning of "truth", but here is one from Wikipedia attributed to William James:
Truth - WikipediaWilliam James's version of pragmatic theory, while complex, is often summarized by his statement that "the 'true' is only the expedient in our way of thinking, just as the 'right' is only the expedient in our way of behaving."[32] By this, James meant that truth is a quality, the value of which is confirmed by its effectiveness when applying concepts to practice (thus, "pragmatic").
Do you agree that false religions and false conspiracy theories are inherently hazardous? Maybe these false beliefs will not always lead to negative results, but as a rule-of-thumb they increase that probability?
Then we might ask if society should try to discourage these false beliefs and by what means.
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