152-496: A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural , attributed to fate or magic , perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly applied to beliefs and practices surrounding luck , amulets , astrology , fortune telling , spirits , and certain paranormal entities , particularly the belief that future events can be foretold by specific unrelated prior events. The word superstition
304-512: A belief in an ideal may involve the belief that this ideal is something good, but it additionally involves a positive evaluative attitude toward this ideal that goes beyond a mere propositional attitude. Applied to the belief in God, opponents of the reductive approach may hold that a belief that God exists may be a necessary pre-condition for belief in God, but that it is not sufficient. The difference between de dicto and de re beliefs or
456-710: A belief in marriage could be translated as a belief that marriage is good. Belief-in is used in a similar sense when expressing self-confidence or faith in one's self or one's abilities. Defenders of a reductive account of belief-in have used this line of thought to argue that belief in God can be analyzed in a similar way: e.g. that it amounts to a belief that God exists with his characteristic attributes, like omniscience and omnipotence . Opponents of this account often concede that belief-in may entail various forms of belief-that, but that there are additional aspects to belief-in that are not reducible to belief-that. For example,
608-663: A de re sense, Lois does believe that Clark Kent is strong, while in a de dicto sense she does not. The contexts corresponding to de dicto ascriptions are known as referentially opaque contexts while de re ascriptions are referentially transparent. A collective belief is referred to when people speak of what "we" believe when this is not simply elliptical for what "we all" believe. Sociologist Émile Durkheim wrote of collective beliefs and proposed that they, like all " social facts ", "inhered in" social groups as opposed to individual persons. Jonathan Dancy states that "Durkheim's discussion of collective belief, though suggestive,
760-400: A dispositive belief ( doxa ) from knowledge ( episteme ) when the opinion is regarded correct (n.b., orthé not alethia ), in terms of right, and juristically so (according to the premises of the dialogue), which was the task of the rhetors to prove. Plato dismisses this possibility of an affirmative relation between opinion and knowledge even when the one who opines grounds his belief on
912-650: A heuristic tool hence those influence a variety of consumer behaviors. John C. Mowen et al. says, after taking into account for a set of antecedents, trait superstitions are predictive of a wide variety of consumer beliefs, like beliefs in astrology or in common negative superstitions (e.g., fear of black cats). A general proneness to be superstitious leads to enduring temperament to gamble, participation in promotional games, investments in stocks, forwarding of superstitious e‐mails, keeping good‐luck charms, and exhibit sport fanship etc. Additionally it has been estimated that between $ 700 million and $ 800 million are lost every Friday
1064-463: A mirror is said to bring seven years of bad luck . From ancient Rome to Northern India, mirrors have been handled with care, or sometimes avoided all together. Horseshoes have long been considered lucky. Opinion is divided as to which way up the horseshoe ought to be nailed. Some say the ends should point up, so that the horseshoe catches the luck, and that the ends pointing down allow the good luck to be lost; others say they should point down, so that
1216-523: A belief in a proposition or one does not. This conception is sufficient to understand many belief ascriptions found in everyday language: for example, Pedro's belief that the Earth is bigger than the Moon. But some cases involving comparisons between beliefs are not easily captured through full beliefs alone: for example, that Pedro's belief that the Earth is bigger than the Moon is more certain than his belief that
1368-404: A belief or we don't have a belief") with the more permissive, probabilistic notion of credence ("there is an entire spectrum of degrees of belief, not a simple dichotomy between belief and non-belief"). Beliefs are the subject of various important philosophical debates. Notable examples include: "What is the rational way to revise one's beliefs when presented with various sorts of evidence?", "Is
1520-412: A belief system, and that tenanted belief systems are difficult for the tenants to completely revise or reject. He suggests that beliefs have to be considered holistically , and that no belief exists in isolation in the mind of the believer. Each belief always implicates and relates to other beliefs. Glover provides the example of a patient with an illness who returns to a doctor, but the doctor says that
1672-447: A central role in many religious traditions in which belief in God is one of the central virtues of their followers. The difference between belief-in and belief-that is sometimes blurry since various expressions using the term "belief in" seem to be translatable into corresponding expressions using the term "belief that" instead. For example, a belief in fairies may be said to be a belief that fairies exist. In this sense, belief-in
SECTION 10
#17327809288191824-432: A certain item of clothing or jewelry or carry a certain item like a bag because it brings them 'luck' and allow good things to happen. A recent theory by Jane Risen proposes that superstitions are intuitions that people acknowledge to be wrong, but acquiesce to rather than correct when they arise as the intuitive assessment of a situation. Her theory draws on dual-process models of reasoning. In this view, superstitions are
1976-461: A certain way is called a belief. This is not just true for humans but may include animals, hypothetical aliens or even computers. From this perspective, it would make sense to ascribe the belief that a traffic light is red to a self-driving car behaving just like a human driver. Dispositionalism is sometimes seen as a specific form of functionalism. It defines beliefs only concerning their role as causes of behavior or as dispositions to behave in
2128-446: A certain way. For example, a belief that there is a pie in the pantry is associated with the disposition to affirm this when asked and to go to the pantry when hungry. While it is uncontroversial that beliefs shape our behavior, the thesis that beliefs can be defined exclusively through their role in producing behavior has been contested. The problem arises because the mechanisms shaping our behavior seem to be too complex to single out
2280-444: A chess computer will behave. The entity has the belief in question if this belief can be used to predict its behavior. Having a belief is relative to an interpretation since there may be different equally good ways of ascribing beliefs to predict behavior. So there may be another interpretation that predicts the move of the queen to f7 that does not involve the belief that this move will win the game. Another version of interpretationism
2432-409: A few closely related beliefs while holists hold that they may obtain between any two beliefs, however unrelated they seem. For example, assume that Mei and Benjamin both affirm that Jupiter is a planet. The most straightforward explanation, given by the atomists, would be that they have the same belief, i.e. that they hold the same content to be true. But now assume that Mei also believes that Pluto
2584-452: A language-like structure, sometimes referred to as "mentalese". Just like regular language, this involves simple elements that are combined in various ways according to syntactic rules to form more complex elements that act as bearers of meaning. On this conception, holding a belief would involve storing such a complex element in one's mind. Different beliefs are separated from each other in that they correspond to different elements stored in
2736-516: A leg" is commonly said to actors and musicians before they go on stage to perform or before an audition . In English (though it may originate in German), the expression was likely first used in this context in the United States in the 1930s or possibly 1920s, originally documented without specifically theatrical associations. Among professional dancers , the traditional saying is not "break
2888-471: A leg", but the French word " merde ". Some superstitious actions have practical origins. Opening an umbrella inside in eighteenth-century London was a physical hazard, as umbrellas then were metal-spoked, clumsy spring mechanisms and a "veritable hazard to open indoors." Another superstition with practical origins is the action of blowing briefly left and right before crossing rail tracks for safe travels as
3040-402: A mental attitude towards the proposition "It will be sunny today" which affirms that this proposition is true. This is different from Sofía's desire that it will be sunny today, despite the fact that both Rahul and Sofía have attitudes toward the same proposition. The mind-to-world direction of fit of beliefs is sometimes expressed by saying that beliefs aim at truth. This aim is also reflected in
3192-404: A more realistic sense: that entities really have the beliefs ascribed to them and that these beliefs participate in the causal network. But, for this to be possible, it may be necessary to define interpretationism as a methodology and not as an ontological outlook on beliefs. Biologist Lewis Wolpert discusses the importance of causal beliefs and associates the making and use of tools with
SECTION 20
#17327809288193344-875: A noun is found in Plautus , Ennius and later in Pliny the Elder , with the meaning of art of divination . From its use in the Classical Latin of Livy and Ovid , it is used in the pejorative sense that it holds today: of an excessive fear of the gods or unreasonable religious belief; as opposed to religio , the proper, reasonable awe of the gods. Cicero derived the term from superstitiosi , lit. those who are "left over", i.e. "survivors", "descendants", connecting it with excessive anxiety of parents in hoping that their children would survive them to perform their necessary funerary rites. According to Michael David Bailey, it
3496-479: A participant in the category of divination may need to go beyond mere observation and need to be active participant in a given action. Examples of divination superstitions include judicial astrology , necromancy , haruspex , lot-casting , geomancy , aeromancy and prophecy . Chardonnens says superstitions belonging to the magic category are exceedingly hermetical and ritualistic: examples include witchcraft, potions, incantations , amulets etc. Chardonnens says that
3648-661: A particular culture. People with syncretic views blend the views of a variety of different religions or traditional beliefs into a unique fusion which suits their particular experiences and contexts ( eclecticism ). Unitarian Universalism exemplifies a syncretic faith. Typical reasons for adherence to religion include the following: Psychologist James Alcock also summarizes a number of apparent benefits which reinforce religious belief. These include prayer appearing to account for successful resolution of problems, "a bulwark against existential anxiety and fear of annihilation," an increased sense of control, companionship with one's deity,
3800-400: A particular function ( Hilary Putnam ). Some have also attempted to offer significant revisions to our notion of belief, including eliminativists about belief who argue that there is no phenomenon in the natural world which corresponds to our folk psychological concept of belief ( Paul Churchland ) and formal epistemologists who aim to replace our bivalent notion of belief ("either we have
3952-449: A pejorative view. Items referred to as such in common parlance are commonly referred to as folk belief in folkloristics . According to László Sándor Chardonnens, Oxford English Dictionary (OED) definitions pass value-judgement and attribution to "fear and ignorance" without doing enough justice to elaborate systems of superstitions. Chardonnens says the religious element in OED denotations
4104-470: A religious background or with people who grew up in a culture that believes in magic and perform rituals. Like stated before in the article above, superstition and prophecies are sometimes linked together. People with religious or superstitious OCD may have compulsions and perform rituals or behaviors in order to fulfill or get closer to fulfilling a prophecy. Those with "magical thinking" OCD may realize that doing an action will not actually 'save' someone, but
4256-578: A room in the northwest corner of a house is "very bad". Similarly, the number 8 is a " lucky number " in China , so that it is more common than any other number in the Chinese housing market. There are many different animals around the world that have been tied to superstitions. People in the West are familiar with the omen of a black cat crossing one's path. Locomotive engineers believe a hare crossing one's path
4408-454: A sense of persistence within the individual. From a simpler perspective, natural selection will tend to reinforce a tendency to generate weak associations or heuristics that are overgeneralized. If there is a strong survival advantage to making correct associations, then this will outweigh the negatives of making many incorrect, "superstitious" associations. It has also been argued that there may be connections between OCD and superstition. It
4560-429: A sentence and in a map through its internal geometrical relations. Functionalism contrasts with representationalism in that it defines beliefs not in terms of the internal constitution of the mind but in terms of the function or the causal role played by them. This view is often combined with the idea that the same belief can be realized in various ways and that it does not matter how it is realized as long as it plays
4712-402: A source of self-significance, and group identity. Typical reasons for rejection of religion include: Mainstream psychology and related disciplines have traditionally treated belief as if it were the simplest form of mental representation and therefore one of the building blocks of conscious thought. Philosophers have tended to be more abstract in their analysis, and much of the work examining
Superstition - Misplaced Pages Continue
4864-450: A special class of mental representations since they do not involve sensory qualities in order to represent something, unlike perceptions or episodic memories. Because of this, it seems natural to construe beliefs as attitudes towards propositions, which also constitute non-sensory representations, i.e. as propositional attitudes . As mental attitudes , beliefs are characterized by both their content and their mode. The content of an attitude
5016-823: A specific element of proselytization . This is a strongly-held belief in the Christian tradition which follows the doctrine of the Great Commission , and is less emphasized by the Islamic faith where the Quranic edict "There shall be no compulsion in religion" (2:256) is often quoted as a justification for toleration of alternative beliefs. The Jewish tradition does not actively seek out converts. Exclusivism correlates with conservative, fundamentalist, and orthodox approaches of many religions, while pluralistic and syncretist approaches either explicitly downplay or reject
5168-514: A superstition; Tacitus on other hand regarded Christianity as a pernicious superstition; Saul of Tarsus and Martin Luther perceived any thing that was not centered on Christ to be superstitious. According to Dale Martin, difference of opinion on what constitutes "superstition" may become apparent when one moves from one culture to another culture. While the formation of the Latin word is clear, from
5320-839: A sure norm for teaching the faith. The Catechism was promulgated by John Paul II on 11 October 1992, the 30th anniversary of the opening of the Second Vatican Council , with his apostolic constitution Fidei depositum (in English, The Deposit of Faith ). On 15 August 1997—the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary — John Paul II promulgated the Latin typical edition , with his apostolic letter Laetamur magnopere . The CCC
5472-399: A twin Earth in another part of the universe that is exactly like ours, except that their water has a different chemical composition despite behaving just like ours. According to Putnam, the reader's thought that water is wet is about our water while the reader's twin's thought on twin Earth that water is wet is about their water . This is the case despite the fact that the two readers have
5624-503: A written form was Baruch Spinoza , who was a key figure in the Age of Enlightenment. Most superstitions arose over the course of centuries and are rooted in regional and historical circumstances, such as religious beliefs or the natural environment. For instance, geckos are believed to be of medicinal value in many Asian countries, including China. In China, Feng shui is a belief system that different places have negative effects, e.g. that
5776-422: Is a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes, beliefs, and practices; the service or worship of God or the supernatural. Religious belief is distinct from religious practice and from religious behaviours —with some believers not practicing religion and some practitioners not believing religion. Belief is no less of a theoretical term than is religion . Religious beliefs often relate to
5928-707: Is a planet, which is denied by Benjamin. This indicates that they have different concepts of planet , which would mean that they were affirming different contents when they both agreed that Jupiter is a planet. This reasoning leads to molecularism or holism because the content of the Jupiter-belief depends on the Pluto-belief in this example. An important motivation for this position comes from W. V. Quine 's confirmational holism , which holds that, because of this interconnectedness, we cannot confirm or disconfirm individual hypotheses, that confirmation happens on
6080-525: Is a source on which to base other Catholic catechisms (e.g., YOUCAT or the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults ) and other expositions of Catholic doctrine. As stated in the apostolic constitution Fidei depositum , with which its publication was ordered, it was given so "that it may be a sure and authentic reference text for teaching Catholic doctrine and particularly for preparing local catechisms". The Catechism
6232-423: Is also used to refer to a religion not practiced by the majority of a given society regardless of whether the prevailing religion contains alleged superstitions or to all religions by the antireligious . Definitions of the term vary, but they commonly describe superstitions as irrational beliefs at odds with scientific knowledge of the world. Stuart Vyse proposes that a superstition's "presumed mechanism of action
Superstition - Misplaced Pages Continue
6384-600: Is arranged in four principal parts: The section on Scripture in the Catechism covers the Patristic tradition of "spiritual exegesis " as further developed through the scholastic doctrine of the " four senses ". The Catechism by specifies that the necessary spiritual interpretation should be sought through the four senses of Scripture. The literal sense pertains to the meaning of the words themselves, including any figurative meanings. The spiritual senses pertain to
6536-597: Is bad luck. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) the giant anteater ( Myrmecophaga tridactyla ) is targeted by motorists in regions of Brazil who do not want the creature to cross in front of them and give them bad luck. Certain numbers hold significance for particular cultures and communities. It is common for buildings to omit certain floors on their elevator panels and there are specific terms for people with severe aversions to specific numbers. Triskaidekaphobia , for example,
6688-493: Is called the Lockean thesis . It states that partial beliefs are basic and that full beliefs are to be conceived as partial beliefs above a certain threshold: for example, every belief above 0.9 is a full belief. Defenders of a primitive notion of full belief, on the other hand, have tried to explain partial beliefs as full beliefs about probabilities. On this view, having a partial belief of degree 0.9 that it will rain tomorrow
6840-535: Is compelled to refuse the name of Roman pontiff either to the former or to the latter. The current Catechism of the Catholic Church considers superstition sinful in the sense that it denotes "a perverse excess of religion", as a demonstrated lack of trust in divine providence (¶ 2110), and a violation of the first of the Ten Commandments . The Catechism represents a defense against
6992-595: Is concerned with delineating the boundary between justified belief and opinion , and involved generally with a theoretical philosophical study of knowledge . The primary problem in epistemology is to understand what is needed to have knowledge. In a notion derived from Plato 's dialogue Theaetetus , where the epistemology of Socrates most clearly departs from that of the sophists , who appear to have defined knowledge as " justified true belief ". The tendency to base knowledge ( episteme ) on common opinion ( doxa ) Socrates dismisses, results from failing to distinguish
7144-845: Is due to Donald Davidson , who uses the thought experiment of radical interpretation , in which the goal is to make sense of the behavior and language of another person from scratch without any knowledge of this person's language. This process involves ascribing beliefs and desires to the speaker. The speaker really has these beliefs if this project can be successful in principle. Interpretationism can be combined with eliminativism and instrumentalism about beliefs. Eliminativists hold that, strictly speaking, there are no beliefs. Instrumentalists agree with eliminativists but add that belief-ascriptions are useful nonetheless. This usefulness can be explained in terms of interpretationism: belief-ascriptions help us in predicting how entities will behave. It has been argued that interpretationism can also be understood in
7296-545: Is expected by the person holding a belief, such as increased odds of winning a prize. This distinction excludes practices where participants merely expect to be entertained. Religious practices that differ from commonly accepted religions in a given culture are sometimes called superstitious; similarly, new practices brought into an established religious community can also be labeled as superstitious in an attempt to exclude them. Also, an excessive display of devoutness has often been labelled as superstitious behavior. In antiquity,
7448-637: Is inconsistent with our understanding of the physical world", with Jane Risen adding that these beliefs are not merely scientifically wrong but impossible. Similarly, Lysann Damisch defines superstition as "irrational beliefs that an object, action, or circumstance that is not logically related to a course of events influences its outcome." Dale Martin says they "presuppose an erroneous understanding about cause and effect, that have been rejected by modern science." The Oxford English Dictionary describes them as "irrational, unfounded", Merriam-Webster as "a false conception about causation or belief or practice", and
7600-474: Is internal to that person and are determined entirely by things going on inside this person's head. Externalism, on the other hand, holds that the relations to one's environment also have a role to play in this. The disagreement between atomism, molecularism and holism concerns the question of how the content of one belief depends on the contents of other beliefs held by the same subject. Atomists deny such dependence relations, molecularists restrict them to only
7752-467: Is not understood as a system of observance and testifies to a belief in higher power on part of the compiler of the dictionary. Richard Webster's The Encyclopedia of Superstitions points out that many superstitions have connections with religion, that people may hold individual subjective perceptions vis à vis superstitions against one another (people of one belief are likely to call people of another belief superstitious); Constantine regarded paganism as
SECTION 50
#17327809288197904-527: Is often used when the entity is not real, or its existence is in doubt. Typical examples would include: "he believes in witches and ghosts" or "many children believe in Santa Claus " or "I believe in a deity". Not all usages of belief-in concern the existence of something: some are commendatory in that they express a positive attitude towards their object. It has been suggested that these cases can also be accounted for in terms of belief-that. For example,
8056-412: Is relatively obscure". Margaret Gilbert has offered a related account in terms of the joint commitment of a number of persons as a body to accept a certain belief. According to this account, individuals who together collectively believe something need not personally believe it individually. Gilbert's work on the topic has stimulated a developing literature among philosophers. One question that has arisen
8208-502: Is stated that superstition is at the end of the day long-held beliefs that are rooted in coincidence and/or cultural tradition rather than logic and facts. OCD that involves superstition is often referred to as "Magical Thinking" People with this kind of manifestation of OCD believe that if they do not follow through with a certain compulsion, then something bad will happen to either themselves or others. Superstitious OCD, while can appear in anyone with OCD, more often appears in people with
8360-466: Is the fear of the number 13. Similarly, a common practice in East Asian nations is avoiding instances of the digit 4. It represents or can be translated as death or die. This is known as tetraphobia (from Ancient Greek τετράς (tetrás) 'four' and Ancient Greek φόβος (phóbos) 'fear'). A widespread superstition is fear of the number 666, given as the number of
8512-454: Is the same as having a full belief that the probability of rain tomorrow is 90%. Another approach circumvents the notion of probability altogether and replaces degrees of belief with degrees of disposition to revise one's full belief. From this perspective, both a belief of degree 0.6 and a belief of degree 0.9 may be seen as full beliefs. The difference between them is that the former belief can readily be changed upon receiving new evidence while
8664-428: Is their relation to perceptions and to actions: perceptions usually cause beliefs and beliefs cause actions. For example, seeing that a traffic light has switched to red is usually associated with a belief that the light is red, which in turn causes the driver to bring the car to a halt. Functionalists use such characteristics to define beliefs: whatever is caused by perceptions in a certain way and also causes behavior in
8816-413: Is to take it to be true; for instance, to believe that snow is white is comparable to accepting the truth of the proposition "snow is white". However, holding a belief does not require active introspection . For example, few individuals carefully consider whether or not the sun will rise tomorrow, simply assuming that it will. Moreover, beliefs need not be occurrent (e.g. a person actively thinking "snow
8968-400: Is true, one must not only believe the relevant true proposition but also have justification for doing so. In more formal terms, an agent S {\displaystyle S} knows that a proposition P {\displaystyle P} is true if and only if : That theory of knowledge suffered a significant setback with the discovery of Gettier problems , situations in which
9120-502: Is what this attitude is directed at: its object. Propositional attitudes are directed at propositions. Beliefs are usually distinguished from other propositional attitudes, like desires, by their mode or the way in which they are directed at propositions. The mode of beliefs has a mind-to-world direction of fit : beliefs try to represent the world as it is; they do not, unlike desires, involve an intention to change it. For example, if Rahul believes that it will be sunny today, then he has
9272-456: Is whether and how philosophical accounts of belief in general need to be sensitive to the possibility of collective belief. Collective belief can play a role in social control and serve as a touchstone for identifying and purging heresies , deviancy or political deviationism . As mental representations , beliefs have contents, which is what the belief is about or what it represents. Within philosophy, there are various disputes about how
SECTION 60
#17327809288199424-508: Is white"), but can instead be dispositional (e.g. a person who if asked about the color of snow would assert "snow is white"). There are various ways that contemporary philosophers have tried to describe beliefs, including as representations of ways that the world could be ( Jerry Fodor ), as dispositions to act as if certain things are true ( Roderick Chisholm ), as interpretive schemes for making sense of someone's actions ( Daniel Dennett and Donald Davidson ), or as mental states that fill
9576-477: Is worth living? Since the catechism treats these questions, it is a book which interests many people, far beyond purely theological or ecclesial circles. Ulf Ekman , former Charismatic pastor and the founder of Livets Ord , says that the Catechism is "the best book he has ever read". The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church was published in 2005, and the first edition in English in 2006. It
9728-471: The Cambridge Dictionary as "sans grounding in human reason or scientific knowledge". This notion of superstitious practices is not causally related to the outcomes. Both Vyse and Martin argue that what is considered superstitious varies across cultures and time. For Vyse, "if a culture has not yet adopted science as its standard, then what we consider magic or superstition is more accurately
9880-484: The Catechism on Scripture has encouraged the pursuit of covenantal theology , an approach that employs the four senses to structure salvation history via the biblical covenants. One of the changes in the 1997 update consisted of the inclusion of the position on the death penalty that is defended in John Paul II's encyclical Evangelium vitae of 1995. The paragraph dealing with the death penalty (2267)
10032-544: The Catechism , which deals with the Profession of Faith, was drafted by Bishop José Manuel Estepa Llaurens and Bishop Alessandro Maggiolini . The second principal part, on the sacraments, was drafted by future Cardinals Jorge Medina and Estanislao Esteban Karlic . The third principal part, on life in Christ, was drafted by the future Cardinal Jean Honoré and Bishop David Konstant . The final principal part, on prayer,
10184-484: The Catechism of the Catholic Church is "a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion and a sure norm for teaching the faith", and stressed that it "is not intended to replace the local catechisms duly approved by the ecclesiastical authorities, the diocesan Bishops and the Episcopal Conferences ". The Catechism states: 11 This catechism aims at presenting an organic synthesis of
10336-647: The Catholic Church each consider themselves to be the true heir to Early Christian belief and practice. The antonym of "orthodox" is " heterodox ", and those adhering to orthodoxy often accuse the heterodox of apostasy , schism , or heresy . The Renaissance and later the Enlightenment in Europe exhibited varying degrees of religious tolerance and intolerance towards new and old religious ideas. The philosophes took particular exception to many of
10488-518: The Grand Canyon is in Arizona involves entertaining the representation associated with this belief—for example, by actively thinking about it. But the great majority of our beliefs are not active most of the time: they are merely dispositional. They usually become activated or occurrent when needed or relevant in some way and then fall back into their dispositional state afterwards. For example,
10640-546: The Journal of Experimental Psychology , in which he described his pigeons exhibiting what appeared to be superstitious behaviour. One pigeon was making turns in its cage, another would swing its head in a pendulum motion, while others also displayed a variety of other behaviours. Because these behaviors were all done ritualistically in an attempt to receive food from a dispenser, even though the dispenser had already been programmed to release food at set time intervals regardless of
10792-655: The Roman Catholic Church ) still hold to exclusivist dogma while participating in inter-religious organizations. Explicitly inclusivist religions include many that are associated with the New Age movement, as well as modern reinterpretations of Hinduism and Buddhism . The Baháʼí Faith considers it doctrine that there is truth in all faith-systems. Pluralism and syncretism are two closely related concepts. People with pluralist beliefs make no distinction between faith systems, viewing each one as valid within
10944-652: The fifteen signs before Judgement Day , and the many prophecies expressed by saints ; Chardonnens further points out that since many aspects of religious experience are tied up with prophecy, the medieval church condones the same. Chardonnens says, one could differentiate between those kinds of prophecy which are (1) inspired by God or Satan and their minions; (2) "gecyndelic"; and (3) "wiglung" examples —lacking divine or infernal inspiration and not "gecyndelic" either. But practically, however, most, if not all, words relating to prophecy ought to be interpreted as inspired. Identifying something as superstition generally expresses
11096-452: The founders or leaders , and considers it a matter of faith that the "correct" religion has a monopoly on truth. All three major Abrahamic monotheistic religions have passages in their holy scriptures that attest to the primacy of the scriptural testimony, and indeed monotheism itself is often vouched as an innovation characterized specifically by its explicit rejection of earlier polytheistic faiths. Some exclusivist faiths incorporate
11248-522: The "justified true belief" definition. Justified true belief is a definition of knowledge that gained approval during the Enlightenment , "justified" standing in contrast to "revealed". There have been attempts to trace it back to Plato and his dialogues, more specifically in the Theaetetus , and the Meno . The concept of justified true belief states that in order to know that a given proposition
11400-446: The "physical stance" and the "design stance". These stances are contrasted with the intentional stance , which is applied to entities with a more complex behavior by ascribing beliefs and desires to these entities. For example, we can predict that a chess player will move her queen to f7 if we ascribe to her the desire to win the game and the belief that this move will achieve that. The same procedure can also be applied to predicting how
11552-513: The 13th because of people's refusal to travel, purchase major items or conduct business. Ancient Greek historian Polybius in his Histories uses the word superstition explaining that in ancient Rome that belief maintained the cohesion of the empire , operating as an instrumentum regni . In the classical era , the existence of gods was actively debated both among philosophers and theologians, and opposition to superstition arose consequently. The poem De rerum natura , written by
11704-659: The Babylonian Captivity of the Church , Martin Luther , who called the papacy "that fountain and source of all superstitions", accuses the popes of superstition: For there was scarce another of the celebrated bishoprics that had so few learned pontiffs; only in violence, intrigue, and superstition has it hitherto surpassed the rest. For the men who occupied the Roman ;See a thousand years ago differ so vastly from those who have since come into power, that one
11856-608: The Catholic Church God Schools Relations with: The Catechism of the Catholic Church ( Latin : Catechismus Catholicae Ecclesiae ; commonly called the Catechism or the CCC ) is a reference work that summarizes the Catholic Church 's doctrine. It was promulgated by Pope John Paul II in 1992 as a reference for the development of local catechisms , directed primarily to those (in
12008-441: The Earth is bigger than Venus. Such cases are most naturally analyzed in terms of partial beliefs involving degrees of belief, so-called credences . The higher the degree of a belief, the more certain the believer is that the believed proposition is true. This is usually formalized by numbers between 0 and 1: a degree of 1 represents an absolutely certain belief, a belief of 0 corresponds to an absolutely certain disbelief and all
12160-406: The Latin term superstitio , like its equivalent Greek deisidaimonia , became associated with exaggerated ritual and a credulous attitude towards prophecies. Greek and Roman polytheists , who modeled their relations with the gods on political and social terms, scorned the man who constantly trembled with fear at the thought of the gods, as a slave feared a cruel and capricious master. Such fear of
12312-476: The Roman poet and philosopher Lucretius further developed the opposition to superstition. Cicero 's work De natura deorum also had a great influence on the development of the modern concept of superstition as well as the word itself. Where Cicero distinguished superstitio and religio , Lucretius used only the word religio . Cicero , for whom superstitio meant "excessive fear of
12464-409: The West include not walking under a ladder, touching wood, throwing salt over one's shoulder, or not opening an umbrella inside. In China wearing certain colours is believed to bring luck. "Break a leg" is a typical English idiom used in the context of theatre or other performing arts to wish a performer " good luck ". An ironic or non-literal saying of uncertain origin (a dead metaphor ), "break
12616-414: The above conditions were seemingly met but where many philosophers deny that anything is known. Robert Nozick suggested a clarification of "justification" which he believed eliminates the problem: the justification has to be such that were the justification false, the knowledge would be false. Bernecker and Dretske (2000) argue that "no epistemologist since Gettier has seriously and successfully defended
12768-425: The accusation that Catholic doctrine is superstitious: Superstition is a deviation of religious feeling and of the practices this feeling imposes. It can even affect the worship we offer the true God, e.g., when one attributes an importance in some way magical to certain practices otherwise lawful or necessary. To attribute the efficacy of prayers or of sacramental signs to their mere external performance, apart from
12920-416: The aggressor, authority will limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity to the dignity of the human person. Today, in fact, as a consequence of the possibilities which the state has for effectively preventing crime, by rendering one who has committed an offense incapable of doing harm – without definitely taking away from him
13072-533: The attitude. This view contrasts with functionalism , which defines beliefs not in terms of the internal constitution of the mind but in terms of the function or the causal role played by beliefs. According to dispositionalism , beliefs are identified with dispositions to behave in certain ways. This view can be seen as a form of functionalism, defining beliefs in terms of the behavior they tend to cause. Interpretationism constitutes another conception, which has gained popularity in contemporary philosophy. It holds that
13224-601: The beast in the biblical Book of Revelation . This fear is called hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia. There are many objects tied to superstitions. During the Great Depression, it was common for people to carry a rabbit's foot around with them. During the Coronavirus epidemic , people in parts of Indonesia made tetek melek, a traditional homemade mask made of coconut palm fronds, which was hung in doorways to keep occupants safe. According to superstitions, breaking
13376-417: The belief that 57 is greater than 14 was probably dispositional to the reader before reading this sentence, has become occurrent while reading it and may soon become dispositional again as the mind focuses elsewhere. The distinction between occurrent and dispositional beliefs is sometimes identified with the distinction between conscious and unconscious beliefs. But it has been argued that, despite overlapping,
13528-545: The beliefs of an entity are in some sense dependent on or relative to someone's interpretation of this entity. Representationalism tends to be associated with mind-body-dualism. Naturalist considerations against this dualism are among the motivations for choosing one of the alternative conceptions. Representationalism characterizes beliefs in terms of mental representations . Representations are usually defined as objects with semantic properties —like having content, referring to something, or being true or false. Beliefs form
13680-421: The beliefs of an entity are in some sense dependent on, or relative to, someone's interpretation of this entity. Daniel Dennett is an important defender of such a position. He holds that we ascribe beliefs to entities in order to predict how they will behave. Entities with simple behavioral patterns can be described using physical laws or in terms of their function. Dennett refers to these forms of explanation as
13832-415: The catechism. The Catechism of the Catholic Church , which I approved 25 June last and the publication of which I today order by virtue of my Apostolic Authority, is a statement of the Church's faith and of Catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture , Apostolic Tradition and the Church's Magisterium . I declare it to be a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion and
13984-420: The causal role characteristic to it. As an analogy, a hard drive is defined in a functionalist manner: it performs the function of storing and retrieving digital data. This function can be realized in many different ways: being made of plastic or steel, or using magnetism or laser. Functionalists hold that something similar is true for beliefs (or mental states in general). Among the roles relevant to beliefs
14136-557: The church) responsible for catechesis and offered as "useful reading for all other Christian faithful ". It has been translated into and published in more than twenty languages worldwide. John Paul II referred to it as "the Catechism of the Second Vatican Council ". The decision to publish an official catechism was taken at the Second Extraordinary General Assembly of the Synod of Bishops , which
14288-426: The common good. Today, however, there is an increasing awareness that the dignity of the person is not lost even after the commission of very serious crimes. In addition, a new understanding has emerged of the significance of penal sanctions imposed by the state. Lastly, more effective systems of detention have been developed, which ensure the due protection of citizens but, at the same time, do not definitively deprive
14440-453: The content of our beliefs entirely determined by our mental states, or do the relevant facts have any bearing on our beliefs (e.g. if I believe that I'm holding a glass of water, is the non-mental fact that water is H 2 O part of the content of that belief)?", "How fine-grained or coarse-grained are our beliefs?", and "Must it be possible for a belief to be expressible in language, or are there non-linguistic beliefs?" Various conceptions of
14592-411: The contents of beliefs are to be understood. Holists and molecularists hold that the content of one particular belief depends on or is determined by other beliefs belonging to the same subject, which is denied by atomists. The question of dependence or determination also plays a central role in the internalism-externalism- debate. Internalism states that the contents of someone's beliefs depend only on what
14744-467: The contents of the provisional French text at a few points. As a result, the earlier translations from the French into other languages (including English) had to be amended and re-published as "second editions". Over eight million copies have been sold worldwide and the book has been published in more than twenty languages. In the apostolic constitution Fidei depositum , John Paul II declared that
14896-544: The context of Early Christianity , the term "orthodoxy" relates to religious belief that closely follows the edicts, apologies , and hermeneutics of a prevailing religious authority. In the case of Early Christianity, this authority was the communion of bishops, and is often referred to by the term " Magisterium ". The term orthodox was applied almost as an epithet to a group of Jewish believers who held to pre-Enlightenment understanding of Judaism—now known as Orthodox Judaism . The Eastern Orthodox Church of Christianity and
15048-410: The corresponding ascriptions concerns the contributions singular terms like names and other referential devices make to the semantic properties of the belief or its ascription. In regular contexts, the truth-value of a sentence does not change upon substitution of co-referring terms. For example, since the names "Superman" and "Clark Kent" refer to the same person, we can replace one with the other in
15200-416: The differing doctrines and practices espoused by other religions or by other religious denominations in a variety of ways. People with exclusivist beliefs typically explain other beliefs either as in error, or as corruptions or counterfeits of the true faith . This approach is a fairly consistent feature among smaller new religious movements that often rely on doctrine that claims a unique revelation by
15352-592: The essential and fundamental contents of Catholic doctrine, as regards both faith and morals , in the light of the Second Vatican Council and the whole of the Church's Tradition . Its principal sources are the Sacred Scriptures , the Fathers of the Church , the liturgy , and the Church's Magisterium . It is intended to serve "as a point of reference for the catechisms or compendia that are composed in
15504-415: The essential features of beliefs have been proposed, but there is no consensus as to which is the right one. Representationalism is the traditionally dominant position. Its most popular version maintains that attitudes toward representations, which are typically associated with propositions, are mental attitudes that constitute beliefs. These attitudes are part of the internal constitution of the mind holding
15656-493: The exclusivist tendencies within a religion. People with inclusivist beliefs recognize some truth in all faith systems , highlighting agreements and minimizing differences. This attitude is sometimes associated with Interfaith dialogue or with the Christian Ecumenical movement, though in principle such attempts at pluralism are not necessarily inclusivist and many actors in such interactions (for example,
15808-528: The existence, characteristics and worship of a deity or deities, to the idea of divine intervention in the universe and in human life , or to the deontological explanations for the values and practices centered on the teachings of a spiritual leader or community . In contrast to other belief systems , religious beliefs are usually codified . A popular view holds that different religions each have identifiable and exclusive sets of beliefs or creeds , but surveys of religious belief have often found that
15960-441: The fear that if they do not perform a certain behavior someone could get hurt is so overwhelming that they do it just to be sure. People with superstitious OCD will go out of their way to avoid something deemed 'unlucky'. Such as the 13th floor of a building, the 13th room, certain numbers or colors, because if they do not they believe something horrible may happen. Though superstitious OCD may work in reverse where one will always wear
16112-515: The future on systematic application of given ritual and order, and moves to classify it, writing: "Prognostication seems to occupy a place somewhere between observation and divination, of which the observation of times is represented most frequently due to the primacy of temporal prognostics.. Chardonnens classifies prophecy under the topic of divination; examples including the prophets of the Old Testament , biblical typological allegory,
16264-495: The general contribution of one particular belief for any possible situation. For example, one may decide not to affirm that there is a pie in the pantry when asked because one wants to keep it secret. Or one might not eat the pie despite being hungry, because one also believes that it is poisoned. Due to this complexity, we are unable to define even a belief as simple as this one in terms of the behavioral dispositions for which it could be responsible. According to interpretationism,
16416-521: The gods was what the Romans meant by "superstition" (Veyne 1987, p. 211). Cicero (106–43 BCE) contrasted superstitio with the mainstream religion of his day, stating: Nec vero superstitione tollenda religio tollitur – "One does not destroy religion by destroying superstition". Diderot's 18th-century Encyclopédie defines superstition as "any excess of religion in general", and links it specifically with paganism . In his 1520 Prelude on
16568-514: The gods" wrote that " superstitio, non religio, tollenda est ", which means that only superstition, and not religion, should be abolished. The Roman Empire also made laws condemning those who excited excessive religious fear in others. During the Middle Ages, the idea of God's influence on the world's events went mostly undisputed. Trials by ordeal were quite frequent, even though Frederick II (1194 – 1250 AD )
16720-492: The guilty of the possibility of redemption. Consequently, the Church teaches, in the light of the Gospel, that "the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person", and the Catholic Church works with determination for its abolition worldwide. In 1992, cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (later Pope Benedict XVI ) stated: [The Catechism of the Catholic Church ] clearly show[s] that
16872-474: The interior dispositions that they demand is to fall into superstition. Cf. Matthew 23:16–22 (¶ 2111) Dieter Harmening's 1979 book Superstitio categorizes superstitions in three categories: magic , divination and observances. The observances category subdivides into "signs" and "time". The time sub-category constitutes temporal prognostics like observances of various days related like dog days , Egyptian days , year prognosis and lunaries , whereas
17024-411: The latter is more stable. Traditionally, philosophers have mainly focused in their inquiries concerning belief on the notion of belief-that . Belief-that can be characterized as a propositional attitude to a claim which is either true or false. Belief-in , on the other hand, is more closely related to notions like trust or faith in that it refers usually to an attitude to persons. Belief-in plays
17176-410: The laws of probability. This includes both synchronic laws about what one should believe at any moment and diachronic laws about how one should revise one's beliefs upon receiving new evidence. The central question in the dispute between full and partial beliefs is whether these two types are really distinct types or whether one type can be explained in terms of the other. One answer to this question
17328-491: The level of the theory as a whole. Another motivation is due to considerations of the nature of learning: it is often not possible to understand one concept, like force in Newtonian physics , without understanding other concepts, like mass or kinetic energy . One problem for holism is that genuine disagreements seem to be impossible or very rare: disputants would usually talk past each other since they never share exactly
17480-401: The local science or religion." Dale points out that superstitions are often considered out of place in modern times and are influenced by modern science and its notions of what is rational or irrational, surviving as remnants of older popular beliefs and practices. Vyse proposes that in addition to being irrational and culturally dependent, superstitions have to be instrumental; an actual effect
17632-400: The luck is poured upon those entering the home. Superstitious sailors believe that nailing a horseshoe to the mast will help their vessel avoid storms. In China, yarrow and tortoiseshell are considered lucky and brooms have a number of superstitions attached to them. It is considered bad luck to use a broom within three days of the new year as this will sweep away good luck. Common actions in
17784-472: The mind. A more holistic alternative to the "language of thought hypothesis" is the map-conception , which uses an analogy of maps to elucidate the nature of beliefs. According to this view, the belief system of a mind should be conceived of not as a set of many individual sentences but as a map encoding the information contained in these sentences. For example, the fact that Brussels is halfway between Paris and Amsterdam can be expressed both linguistically as
17936-556: The more fantastical claims of religions and directly challenged religious authority and the prevailing beliefs associated with the established churches. In response to the liberalizing political and social movements, some religious groups attempted to integrate Enlightenment ideals of rationality, equality, and individual liberty into their belief systems, especially in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Reform Judaism and Liberal Christianity offer two examples of such religious associations. Adherents of particular religions deal with
18088-456: The numbers in between correspond to intermediate degrees of certainty. In the Bayesian approach , these degrees are interpreted as subjective probabilities : e.g. a belief of degree 0.9 that it will rain tomorrow means that the agent thinks that the probability of rain tomorrow is 90%. Bayesianism uses this relation between beliefs and probability to define the norms of rationality in terms of
18240-403: The observation category needs an observer, divination category needs a participant to tell what is to be observed, whereas magic requires a participant who must follow a protocol to influence the future, and that these three types of superstition need increasing stages of participation and knowledge. Chardonnens defines "prognostication" as that component of superstition which expects knowledge of
18392-595: The official doctrine and descriptions of the beliefs offered by religious authorities do not always agree with the privately held beliefs of those who identify as members of a particular religion. For a broad classification of the kinds of religious belief, see below. First self-applied as a term to the conservative doctrine outlined by anti-modernist Protestants in the United States, "fundamentalism" in religious terms denotes strict adherence to an interpretation of scriptures that are generally associated with theologically conservative positions or traditional understandings of
18544-574: The origin of human beliefs. In the context of Ancient Greek thought , three related concepts were identified regarding the concept of belief: pistis , doxa , and dogma . Simplified, Pistis refers to " trust " and "confidence," doxa refers to " opinion " and "acceptance," and dogma refers to the positions of a philosopher or of a philosophical school such as Stoicism . Beliefs can be categorized into various types depending on their ontological status, their degree, their object or their semantic properties. Having an occurrent belief that
18696-414: The other reinforcement schedules (e.g., fixed ratio, fixed interval), these behaviours were also the most resistant to extinction . This is called the partial reinforcement effect , and this has been used to explain superstitious behaviour in humans. To be more precise, this effect means that, whenever an individual performs an action expecting a reinforcement, and none seems forthcoming, it actually creates
18848-716: The output of "System 1" reasoning that are not corrected even when caught by "System 2". People seem to believe that superstitions influence events by changing the likelihood of currently possible outcomes rather than by creating new possible outcomes. In sporting events, for example, a lucky ritual or object is thought to increase the chance that an athlete will perform at the peak of their ability, rather than increasing their overall ability at that sport. Psychologist Stuart Vyse has pointed out that until about 2010, "[m]ost researchers assumed superstitions were irrational and focused their attentions on discovering why people were superstitious." Vyse went on to describe studies that looked at
19000-430: The person engaging in the action looks both ways. Belief A belief is a subjective attitude that a proposition is true or a state of affairs is the case. A subjective attitude is a mental state of having some stance , take, or opinion about something. In epistemology , philosophers use the term "belief" to refer to attitudes about the world which can be either true or false . To believe something
19152-433: The pigeons' actions, Skinner believed that the pigeons were trying to influence their feeding schedule by performing these actions. He then extended this as a proposition regarding the nature of superstitious behavior in humans. Skinner's theory regarding superstition being the nature of the pigeons' behaviour has been challenged by other psychologists such as Staddon and Simmelhag, who theorised an alternative explanation for
19304-491: The pigeons' behaviour. Despite challenges to Skinner's interpretation of the root of his pigeons' superstitious behaviour, his conception of the reinforcement schedule has been used to explain superstitious behaviour in humans. Originally, in Skinner's animal research, "some pigeons responded up to 10,000 times without reinforcement when they had originally been conditioned on an intermittent reinforcement basis." Compared to
19456-433: The possibility of redeeming himself – the cases in which the execution of the offender is an absolute necessity "are very rare, if not practically nonexistent." The 2018 change to the Catechism reads: Recourse to the death penalty on the part of legitimate authority, following a fair trial, was long considered an appropriate response to the gravity of certain crimes and an acceptable, albeit extreme, means of safeguarding
19608-915: The prescribed medicine is not working. At that point, the patient has a great deal of flexibility in choosing what beliefs to keep or reject: the patient could believe that the doctor is incompetent, that the doctor's assistants made a mistake, that the patient's own body is unique in some unexpected way, that Western medicine is ineffective, or even that Western science is entirely unable to discover truths about ailments. This insight has relevance for inquisitors , missionaries , agitprop groups and thought-police . The British philosopher Stephen Law has described some belief systems (including belief in homeopathy , psychic powers , and alien abduction ) as "claptrap" and says that such belief-systems can "draw people in and hold them captive so they become willing slaves of claptrap ... if you get sucked in, it can be extremely difficult to think your way clear again". Religion
19760-409: The present life of Christians". John Paul II says that in 1986 he formed a commission composed of 12 cardinals and bishops chaired by cardinal Joseph Ratzinger (who later became Pope Benedict XVI ) to prepare the first draft of the Catechism . The commission was assisted by a committee consisting of seven diocesan bishops , experts in theology and catechesis . The first principal part of
19912-404: The problem of what we must do as human beings, of how we should live our lives so that we and the world may become just, is the essential problem of our day, and basically of all ages. After the fall of ideologies, the problem of man—the moral problem—is presented to today's context in a totally new way: What should we do? How does life become just? What can give us and the whole world a future which
20064-664: The relationship between performance and superstitious rituals. Preliminary work has indicated that such rituals can reduce stress and thereby improve performance, but, Vyse has said, "...not because they are superstitious but because they are rituals.... So there is no real magic, but there is a bit of calming magic in performing a ritualistic sequence before attempting a high-pressure activity.... Any old ritual will do." People tend to attribute events to supernatural causes (in psychological terms, "external causes") most often under two circumstances. According to consumer behavior analytics of John C. Mowen et al., superstitions are employed as
20216-542: The right perceptions; for example, to believe that it is raining given a perception of rain. Without this perception, there is still a disposition to believe but no actual dispositional belief. On a dispositionalist conception of belief, there are no occurrent beliefs, since all beliefs are defined in terms of dispositions. An important dispute in formal epistemology concerns the question of whether beliefs should be conceptualized as full beliefs or as partial beliefs. Full beliefs are all-or-nothing attitudes: either one has
20368-525: The rule and is able to add justification ( logos : reasonable and necessarily plausible assertions/evidence/guidance) to it. A belief can be based fully or partially on intuition . Plato has been credited for the justified true belief theory of knowledge, even though Plato in the Theaetetus elegantly dismisses it, and even posits this argument of Socrates as a cause for his death penalty. The epistemologists, Gettier and Goldman , have questioned
20520-424: The same molecular composition. So it seems necessary to include external factors in order to explain the difference. One problem with this position is that this difference in content does not bring any causal difference with it: the two readers act in exactly the same way. This casts doubt on the thesis that there is any genuine difference in need of explanation between the contents of the two beliefs. Epistemology
20672-507: The same web of beliefs needed to determine the content of the source of the disagreement. Internalism and externalism disagree about whether the contents of our beliefs are determined only by what's happening in our head or also by other factors. Internalists deny such a dependence on external factors. They hold that a person and a molecule-by-molecule copy would have exactly the same beliefs. Hilary Putnam objects to this position by way of his twin Earth thought experiment . He imagines
20824-474: The sentence "Superman is strong" without changing its truth-value; this issue is more complicated in case of belief ascriptions. For example, Lois believes that Superman is strong but she does not believe that Clark Kent is strong. This difficulty arises due to the fact that she does not know that the two names refer to the same entity. Beliefs or belief ascriptions for which this substitution does not generally work are de dicto , otherwise, they are de re . In
20976-507: The significance of the things (persons, places, objects or events) denoted by the words. Of the three spiritual senses, the allegorical sense is foundational. It relates persons, events, and institutions of earlier covenants to those of later covenants, and especially to the New Covenant . Building on the allegorical sense, the moral sense instructs in regard to action, and the anagogical sense points to man's final destiny. The teaching of
21128-408: The signs category constitutes signs such as particular animal behaviors (like the call of birds or the neighing of horses) or the sighting of comets, or dreams. According to László Sándor Chardonnens, the signs subcategory usually needs an observer who might help in interpreting the signs and such observer does not need necessarily to be an active participant in the observation. According to Chardonnens,
21280-404: The tendency to revise one's belief upon receiving new evidence that an existing belief is false. Upon hearing a forecast of bad weather, Rahul is likely to change his mental attitude but Sofía is not. There are different ways of conceiving how mental representations are realized in the mind. One form of this is the language of thought hypothesis , which claims that mental representations have
21432-407: The text and are distrustful of innovative readings, new revelation, or alternative interpretations. Religious fundamentalism has been identified in the media as being associated with fanatical or zealous political movements around the world that have used a strict adherence to a particular religious doctrine as a means to establish political identity and to enforce societal norms. First used in
21584-468: The traditional view." On the other hand, Paul Boghossian argues that the justified true belief account is the "standard, widely accepted" definition of knowledge. A belief system comprises a set of mutually supportive beliefs. The beliefs of any such system can be religious , philosophical , political , ideological , or a combination of these. The British philosopher Jonathan Glover , following Meadows (2008), says that beliefs are always part of
21736-455: The two distinctions do not match. The reason for this is that beliefs can shape one's behaviour and be involved in one's reasoning even if the subject is not conscious of them. Such beliefs are cases of unconscious occurrent mental states. On this view, being occurrent corresponds to being active, either consciously or unconsciously. A dispositional belief is not the same as a disposition to believe. We have various dispositions to believe given
21888-519: The various countries". 12 This work is intended primarily for those responsible for catechesis : first of all the bishops , as teachers of the faith and pastors of the Church. It is offered to them as an instrument in fulfilling their responsibility of teaching the People of God. Through the bishops, it is addressed to redactors of catechisms , to priests, and to catechists . It will also be useful reading for all other Christian faithful. The Catechism
22040-425: The verb super-stare , "to stand over, stand upon; survive", its original intended sense is less clear. It can be interpreted as "'standing over a thing in amazement or awe", but other possibilities have been suggested, e.g. the sense of excess , i.e. over-scrupulousness or over-ceremoniousness in the performing of religious rites, or else the survival of old, irrational religious habits. The earliest known use as
22192-442: The viability of the belief concept stems from philosophical analysis. The concept of belief presumes a subject (the believer) and an object of belief (the proposition). Like other propositional attitudes , belief implies the existence of mental states and intentionality , both of which are hotly debated topics in the philosophy of mind , whose foundations and relation to brain states are still controversial. Catechism of
22344-608: Was convened by Pope John Paul II on 25 January 1985 to evaluate the progress of implementing the Vatican II council 's goals on the 20th anniversary of its closure. The assembly participants expressed the desire that "a catechism or compendium of all Catholic doctrine regarding both faith and morals be composed, that it might be, as it were, a point of reference for the catechisms or compendiums that are prepared in various regions. The presentation of doctrine must be biblical and liturgical . It must be sound doctrine suited to
22496-460: Was drafted by Fr. Jean Corbon, a Lebanese Melkite priest. Future CDF Prefect William Levada wrote the Catechism' s glossary. The project's editorial secretary was the future Cardinal Christoph Schönborn , OP. Reminiscing those days, Ratzinger said in 2011: "I must confess that even today it seems a miracle to me that this project [the Catechism of the Catholic Church ] was ultimately successful". Cardinal Georges Cottier said he had worked on
22648-471: Was published in the French language in 1992. In the United States, the English translation was published in 1994 and more than 250,000 copies had been pre-ordered before its release, with a note that it was "subject to revision according to the Latin typical edition ( editio typica ) when it is published". The Latin typical edition, the official text of reference promulgated on 15 August 1997, amended
22800-450: Was revised again by Pope Francis in 2018. The text previously stated (1997): Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor. If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people's safety from
22952-505: Was the first king who explicitly outlawed trials by ordeal as they were considered "irrational". The rediscovery of lost classical works ( The Renaissance ) and scientific advancement led to a steadily increasing disbelief in superstition. A new, more rationalistic lens was beginning to see use in exegesis. Opposition to superstition was central to the Age of Enlightenment . The first philosopher who dared to criticize superstition publicly and in
23104-467: Was with Pliny's usage that magic came close to superstition; and charges of being superstitious were first leveled by Roman authorities on their Christian subjects. In turn, early Christian writers saw all Roman and Pagan cults as superstitious, worshipping false Gods, fallen angels and demons. With Christian usage almost all forms of magic started being described as forms of superstition. In 1948, behavioral psychologist B.F. Skinner published an article in
#818181