cousin_it comments on Foma: Beliefs that Cause Themselves to be True - Less Wrong

21 Post author: atucker 20 June 2011 05:13AM

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Comment author: cousin_it 21 June 2011 03:04:46PM 2 points [-]

This doesn't solve the problem that he's disbelieving an obviously true sentence, though.

Comment author: benelliott 21 June 2011 03:34:20PM 0 points [-]

No, its false. It asserts that he cannot believe it, whereas we are saying that he can. Just because he chooses not to doesn't mean he can't (I choose not the jump out the first story window next to me, but this doesn't mean I can't).

Its the same trick as resolving the "everything I say is false" paradox, some things I say are false, some are true, and that sentence was the first kind.

Comment author: cousin_it 21 June 2011 03:52:42PM *  1 point [-]

Counterfactuals are fun :-) How do you know that he can believe it? Just because he asserts so? It seems to me that he cannot.

Comment author: benelliott 21 June 2011 04:02:57PM 0 points [-]

Why not? Sure, it would be a false belief, but people are capable of holding those.

Comment author: cousin_it 21 June 2011 04:11:01PM *  0 points [-]

Hm, good point. I guess we can close that loophole by saying something like "Bongo cannot believe this sentence and stay consistent".

Comment author: benelliott 21 June 2011 04:33:03PM 1 point [-]

Or "Bongo doesn't believe this sentence".