Debating World Views - Chapter 1: Epistemology and Experience - part 1

First Chapter in an extensive series on debates between world views and all things that arise due to the clash between different beliefs.

This video discusses a thought experiment about forming beliefs based on one's own personal experience.

The movie Flight plan - trailer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsGLpV0iWjg


Opening music:
Song: The Moor
Band: Opeth
Album: Still life

Background music:
Song: The Positive Distraction
Artist: Paul Collier
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCpPA0Sy5-E

Category:

Education

Tags:

• world
• views
• belief
• universe
• Atheism
• Theism
• God
• science
• debate
• debating
• discussion
• arguments
• personal
• experience
• thought
• experiment

[Chopstewie]

How many other individuals are on the plane ('normal passengers')? and would they have all had the opportunity to see the woman boarding the plane with her daughter?

Just a gut reaction: I would find it odd that she would have the teddy bear and heart (apparently tangible to other passengers) and that the alleged kidnapper would have neglected to remove those objects or even planted them. Almost like someone was attempting to get a reaction from me either way.

[KnownNoMore]

@Chopstewie

"How many other individuals are on the plane ('normal passengers')"

More than on an average plane, This plane is huge. It has two stories.

When it comes to the heart, I dont think a kidnapper would have noticed that. Its was a very little heart drawn on the window with a finger. The only reason Kyle noticed it again because she happened to breath on the window. The teddybear is a bit more difficult to explain

[Chopstewie]

@KnownNoMore

I'll give you the window example, that might be hard to see,.

So when she boarded the plane did they all get a good look at her and the child as she came on board? The few times I have been on a plane I honestly cant say I remember much of the other passenger and I might miss a child. If the kidnapper made off with the child early I honestly might not remember. Then you would need far fewer people actually involved in the conspiracy to pull something off.

[KnownNoMore]

@Chopstewie

People generally dont pay much attention to other passengers on a plane. I myself would very easily miss a person. I dont think it is necessary to involve all the passengers or even a group of passengers into the conspiracy.

If I remember right. Kyle fell asleep about half an hour after take off. Im not sure how long she slept, I think for about an hour. So if her daughter really was there and was kidnapped it would have happened in that time period.

[Ephemerance]

This is very similar to Pascal's wager. Pascal's wager fails in real conversation because it only takes into account two distinct possibilities and their outcomes where more than just the outlined scenarios must be taken into consideration for it to make sense (like a chaotic God who damns those who believe in him).

However, since you specified we can ignore all other possible scenarios with Kyle, her panicked fanaticism has the higher likelihood of a favourable outcome.

[KnownNoMore]

@Ephemerance

Oh and btw, that doesnt mean that this video is actually about pascal's wager, but in disguise. It has greater application than that.

[8698gil]

I've only seen the preview for this movie, so I don't know how it comes out, but I'm guessing that since it's a movie, it's probably a conspiracy. In real life, however, I would probably tend to think that the woman was delusional (crazy people believe in conspiracies, right?) if I had not seen any child and no one else seemed to have either. I'd feel very bad for her, though.

[TheNakedAtheist]

Continued...

That's not to say she should accept her daughters death as fact, but she should accept it as being the mostly likely case unless, or until evidence to the contrary comes to light.

[TheNakedAtheist]

l would say she isn't justified in holding her world view, and in part for a reason you never mentioned. It is unlikely in the extreme that not one passenger would have seen her daughter. I thought that when I saw the movie, and found it unbelievable given that that fact was never adequately explained.

[MonotonePeanut]

She is not justified - Why? occam's razor

[crakhead1011]

this intro is an opeth win

[Chopstewie]

Thank you for the replies, I'll have to go look at the movie now.

Given what we have talked about, I would say she is justified in assumption of the conspiracy, not so much out of a reward/risk scenario but that her own experiences could very well reflect reality with only a small number of people working against her, and substantial evidence in her favor (the coffin especially), However the more people that need to be involved the more likely hallucination becomes.