Critical Thomism And Belief

Critical Thomism and Belief By Anthony J. Fejfar, B.A., J.D., Esq., Coif © Copyright 2008 by Anthony J. Fejfar Bernard Lonergan argued that there is a dual structure to belief involving, first, an authoritative source of information and next a belief. I take a similar position but I also employ statistical probability in my structure. Let us say you read a newspaper story that there is sodium nitrate in the local ground water. You are trying to reasonably determine whether or not to believe the article. As a first step you must first make a probability judgment as to the reliability of your source of information. Say, for example, you give the newspaper and the reporter a 60% reliability probability. If you are over 50%, then you proceed to the next step where you make a probability judgment as to the truth of the information based upon coherence (Quine) with the other information that you have in your mind and memory. If the probability is over 50% then you can reasonably place a belief in the information.