Towards a Science of Belief Systems PDF
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Towards a Science of Belief Systems This page intentionally left blank Towards a Science of Belief Systems Edmund Griffiths Wolfson College, University of Oxford © Edmund Griffi ths 2014 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-34636-0 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No portion of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, Saffron House, 6–10 Kirby Street, London EC1N 8TS. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The author has asserted his right to be identified as the author of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. First published 2014 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN Palgrave Macmillan in the UK is an imprint of Macmillan Publishers Limited, registered in England, company number 785998, of Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS. Palgrave Macmillan in the US is a division of St Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010. Palgrave Macmillan is the global academic imprint of the above companies and has companies and representatives throughout the world. Palgrave® and Macmillan® are registered trademarks in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and other countries ISBN 978-1-349-46690-0 ISBN 978-1-137-34637-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9781137346377 This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. Logging, pulping and manufacturing processes are expected to conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin. A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. For my parents This page intentionally left blank Contents Preface and Acknowledgements viii Introduction: The Idea of a Science of Belief Systems (§§1–15) 1 1 You Don’t Know What It’s Like! (§§16–29) 13 2 A Descriptive Science of Logic (§§30–51) 30 3 Some Notes on Affect (§§52–71) 54 4 Elements of Comparative Method (§§72–99) 80 5 Belief Systems and the Materialist Conception of History (§§100–116) 103 6 Beliefs That Are Not Supposed to Be Wholly Believed (§§117–128) 115 7 A Theory of Superstition, in Thirteen Paragraphs (§§129–141) 125 8 Believing in Fictional Beings (§§142–159) 136 Instead of a Conclusion (§§160–169) 150 Appendix: The Use of Symbolic Notation in Descriptive Logic 155 Bibliography 162 Index 183 vii Preface and Acknowledgements People believe in a great many things. I suppose we are all continually struck by the diversity of beliefs entertained not merely in distant lands or in the far reaches of antiquity, but everywhere around us: even our friends, neighbours, and colleagues frequently prove to view the world in ways that must impress us as radically unfamiliar. And yet we ordi- narily know very little about what other people believe. (Perhaps we are too busy deciding whether or not we agree.) This book starts from the conviction that what people believe, why they believe it, and how it feels to believe it are among the most absorbing and significant ques- tions that can be asked; and that they can best be answered on the basis of a rigorous and general method, one that will be applicable equally to beliefs we may regard as ‘religious’, ‘political’, ‘philosophical’, ‘magical’, or something else altogether – and, also, applicable equally to beliefs we may regard as true or as false. The cornerstone of the method developed in this book is descriptive logic – the systematic reconstruction of the logical sequences by which particular doctrines (with their associated charge of emotions) are linked together into a more or less coherent belief system. Existing logic tends to be normative: it seeks to tell us how we ought to reason, without regard to whether or not we do actually reason that way. Descriptive logic investigates how people have in fact reasoned, on questions where they feel a strong emotional commitment. Ultimately, the comparative application of descriptive logic promises to lead to a typological classifi- cation of belief systems based on their logical form, and, beyond that, to a general account of the kinds of thought processes that people habitu- ally use in giving doctrinal expression to their basic sense of how the world is. There seems no compelling reason why what people believe should not eventually constitute the subject matter of a distinct and cohesive science, on the same kind of footing as what they do (history), how they live (economics), and what they create (literary and artistic criticism). I do not claim, however, that the study of belief systems is yet a science in the full sense: the ‘Towards’ in my title is more than simply a gesture in the direction of modesty. Much further research is needed, both on general theory and in the logical reconstruction of individual belief systems. viii Preface and Acknowledgements ix This book, in fact, represents no more than a first attempt at breaking the ground; and, while I certainly intend to continue the work myself, I shall be very happy to see what I have written here rapidly superseded by contributions from more skilful hands than mine. * * * This book was researched and written during my tenure (2007–2014) of a non-stipendiary Research Fellowship at Wolfson College, Oxford. Some sections, especially §§95–97, draw on material from my unpub- lished doctoral thesis, ‘Aleksandr Prokhanov and post-Soviet esoteri- cism’ (University of Oxford, DPhil thesis, 2007): I am grateful to my then supervisor, Michael Nicholson, and to my examiners, Geoffrey Hosking and Catriona Kelly. Certain of the ideas in the book were first presented to meetings of the Oxford Communist Corresponding Society, where they were received with that organization’s customary perspicacity and grace. The book was read in manuscript, in whole or in part, by Vladimir V. Gligorov, R. E. Griffiths, Myroslava Halushka, Jon S. Kennedy, Sima Ben, Philip Walden, and James Womack: I was taken aback by the wisdom, kindness, and acuity of their (occasionally bracing) comments, and the reader will scarcely be in any doubt that remaining errors and infelicities are mine alone. To Myro I am further indebted for the rights to the painting that appears on the front cover. I have learnt much from conversations with Ghayur Bangash, George O’Connor, and C. J. Walton; and the fact that Mr Walton has also made the index means I can be confident that that part of the book, at least, has been prepared with absolute competence and rigour. I have bene- fited from the courtesy and efficiency of the staff at the Bodleian Library and the Taylor Bodleian Slavonic and Modern Greek Library, in Oxford. Melanie Blair and Brendan George, at Palgrave Macmillan, have both been unfailingly professional and supportive throughout. The debt I owe my parents, finally, is very inadequately expressed in the dedica- tion of the book to them.
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