[ALittleLight]

What beliefs do you have that aren't from experiences? Even analytic beliefs are things you believe because you experienced arriving at them. e.g. I believe 2+2 is 4 because of my experiences with math and calculation, in the same way I believe putting my hand on a hot plate might hurt because of my experience with hot things etc.

[axiom92]

>Even analytic beliefs are things you believe because you experienced arriving at them?

What about scientific beliefs? Only a handful of people can really understand (or to align with your phrasing, _experience_ understanding) all the evidence there is to support the Big Bang theory. Yet, a much larger number accepts it.

And lemmas? I'm sure there are some lemmas I just use in proofs but have never proved from the first principles.

[ALittleLight]

You still learn those things, whether lemmas or beliefs about the Big Bang, from experience. You don't necessarily have the experience of deriving these things from first principles or from evidence yourself - someone told you, you read it in a book, etc.

How did you know who or what you could trust? Why do you believe in some books and not others? Again, your experience tells you which are more trustworthy. You have experiences that make you trust textbooks and so you trust the information you get by experiencing reading the textbook.

My point is really that it's absurd to claim someone only believes something because of their experience. Everyone believes everything because of their experiences.

[axiom92]

Hmm I see your point. It's a bit abstract but makes sense to me.