Re: [lojban] Set of answers encore

[pycyn@aol.com]

In a message dated 9/27/2001 11:28:33 AM Central Daylight Time, jcowan@reutershealth.com writes:

In _Quiddities_,
Quine says that people believe what they are willing to bet money on,
so as to be able to reasonably distinguish belief from mere lip service
-- although even he concedes that "I know that my Redeemer liveth" is
not a good candidate for this kind of belief-test.  It would seem that
he agrees with me that "belief" is a prototype-based category, although
he counts that bad, whereas I reckon it good.

One of the few things about Quine that he seems to get consistently right is his treatment of belief: he does not fall into perfectionism at any point in his career and develops the basic Pragmatist position ever more clearly over time -- aided by Duhem.  The interesting question here is whether these beliefs are Dennett's beliefs or opinions; betting money is not quite the same as relying on in ordinary life.  Oh, yes, and Quine could be funny, not a common logician trait (thouugh the ones who are are usually very funny indeed: Carroll, Smullyan  -- Quine was not quite in their leagues but any steps are to be encouraged.)