Originally Posted by
Cafe Rob
What you believe really governs your actions and belief may not line up with reality. As Kant explains, the mind constitutes the world around us, it is never passive but active. What anyone believes is dependent on their intellectual ability, their intellect and reason and their day to day life experiences and who they are. Although I would also say that a lot of what a person beleives is not known to them. We do not-'know ourselves.' Like the fictional characters Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde at one moment we may be calm, placid, benevolent and reasonable and then later we may feel the complete opposite of this, violent, destructive even murderous. As Schopenhauer rightly said, 'reason is a slave of the passions.'
Belief really, is linked to desire and need because when we want something we justify it with a belief. Feelings of lonleliness and insecurity lead to a need for God, or maybe alcohol or drugs. The love we have for another person is the passion and the need we feel for them. Philosophy satisfies a need for understanding ourselves. What we believe changes as time passes.