Groundless Beliefs 现代大学英语课件.ppt

discover and absorb, and people have a natural tendency to be lazy (the force of inertia); 2) New ideas always threaten our sense of security, and people usually prefer not to enter what they consider dangerous waters (the fear of the unknown); 3) New ideas imply that our old ideas are wrong, and people feel that they make them foolish. They refuse to accept them in order to save their ego; 4) New ideas always put some vested interests in danger, and people often reject them to cling on to those interests. author’s own approach to classify his proposition that the fact a belief is well-grounded because it is true that many old ideas originated at a time when we knew much less than we do today. But we can also say that it is not so well-grounded because the fact that a belief is old sometimes does mean that it has been proved correct again and again in history. to be inherited from the past: to be passed on from the past in its favor: in its support 7. When we find ourselves entertaining an opinion about which there is a feeling that even to enquire into it would be absurd, unnecessary, undesirable, or wicked—we may know that that opinion is a non-rational one. Another common mistake we make is to judge opinions according to our feelings. An opinion is true because it is true, not because we like it or find it desirable or useful. In fact, truth can often be unpleasant or painful whereas untruth can be soothing and attractive. That is why opinions are often bitterly debated or enthusiastically cherished, precisely because their truthfulness is not established. transcend our interest in forming our belief. The answer is yes, but it is possible only when we can forgo selfish considerations. to leave no room for doubt: to make it impossible for people to doubt to pay sb to do sth: to bring benefit or advantage to sb to do sth. E.g. It pays to tell people the truth. It pays to forgive others. It doesn’t pay to work too hard at the expense of your health.