Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Mon, 03 Aug 2009 08:59:38 -0700, Darren New wrote:
> 
>> Jim Henderson wrote:
>>> Yes, but that's one of the points of my definition for faith, that it's
>>> based on a certainty that can feel like knowledge that comes from
>>> within rather than from external sources.
>> Certainly. But that doesn't make it knowledge, any more than being
>> deluded into thinking you're Napoleon makes it "knowledge" that you are.
> 
> A fair point, still will have to think about this more.
> 
>>> There's a distinction between the two (I know this perhaps contradicts
>>> what I wrote earlier in this post even), but "faith" is kinda wishy-
>>> washy, a bit lower on the scale of certainty than "knowledge".  There
>>> are some things that I have faith about, but I'm not bothered that the
>>> associated feeling that accompanies that isn't as strong as some things
>>> that I have a certainty about that I can't explain.
>> Still not "knowledge" in my book. "Random stuff I'm sure of without any
>> evidence" isn't knowledge.
> 
> Many years ago, I had a very bizzare experience driving home from work.  
> As I got on the highway headed home, things seemed wrong, and I had 
> absolute certainty that if I went my normal route home, something really 
> bad was going to happen.  I could even pinpoint where the badness was 
> likely to happen - getting off one highway onto another with a very short 
> acceleration lane.  It was very late at night, so not a lot of traffic.
> 
> I changed my route home, I was that sure that something bad was going to 
> happen.
> 
> To this day, I know that I avoided a disaster that night.  Can't explain 
> it, but the feeling even thinking about it now is much, much stronger 
> than mere faith or belief.  I can't explain it.  Intellectually, I know 
> it's unlikely anything was going to happen, but 15-ish years later, I 
> still can't shake the feeling that the change in my route home was the 
> right decision.
> 
> I suppose it's the sort of thing people who are more religious than me 
> would attribute to "the protection of God" or something like that, but I 
> don't.  I just instinctively knew that I needed to go home a different 
> route.
> 

There are a lot of people with experiences like this and some who appear
at times to have accurate foreknowledge and knowledge (or perhaps)
perception. I don't think these experiences fit well into any theory of 
how the mind
and brain work. But I think you may be using the word "instinctive", in 
any but
a very loose sense, to these. Of course one of the common and, I 
suppose, legitimate
uses of the word "instinctive" is to describe knowledge or feelings 
(learned or unlearned)
that are so deeply ingrained in us that it doesn't occur to us to doubt 
it --until after the event,
perhaps. But that use shouldn't be confused with the way a scientist or 
a philosopher
would use the term.

David

Post a reply to this message