David_Gerard comments on No, Really, I've Deceived Myself - Less Wrong

55 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 04 March 2009 11:29PM

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Comment author: David_Gerard 19 January 2011 10:42:20AM *  2 points [-]

This sounds very like she enjoys the feeling of doublethink. Applying aesthetics to one's own feelings. I suspect this is behind New Age as a grab-bag people tend to give credence to all of, or crank magnetism - people assess beliefs by how it feels to profess them.

Whether this is "real" belief depends then on what you call "belief". It's a real something, I think, and "belief" is not an invalid word for them to use for it, but we might benefit from separate ones for "I like this belief" (which I mean in a sense stronger than "I think I should believe") and "this belief pays off in expected experiences." It may be covered by "belief in belief", but I have a nagging feeling that it's a bit stronger.