wilbjammin

There are beliefs and there are values. I think values are a choice, and it follows that beliefs are a choice as well.

Short Answer: Yes.

Elaboration:

It seems to me that focusing on the concept of beliefs centers around making asserations about that which cannot be known in some way or another. Coming from an existentialist standpoint that existing is absurd, and most everything we're confronted with is absurd because there is no ultimate <b>known</b> reason for it to be there, I am left in a similar state of skepticism.

I have values, and reasons behind my values, but I always try to back those values up with empirical evidence of some kind. And I can demonstrate that with choices in how I live and intrepret my life:

1) The feeling of love is something that I have and it demonstrated to me through actions, not merely through my mental imagination of what I think others feel about me.

2) The concept of believing in God, or not believing in God doesn't change the absurdity of existence - so, for me personally, the question is moot. I can't make assumptions about what a God would or wouldn't want, so I look for other clues in my existence for how to live my life.

3) Fundamentally, I am constantly looking for cause-effect relationships in deciding what I prefer. For instance, talking about whether something is fundamentally right or wrong doesn't interest me as much as what I would prefer or not prefer for myself or society, or anything else.

Example: the question of being pro-life or pro-choice - I don't find abortions desirable because they pose some risk to the mother, it places many in undesirable personal ethical and moral dilemmas, and in general it seems that it would be better to not get pregnant then to get pregnant and then decide that one didn't want to be pregnant. However, we live in a complicated world, there are plenty of people everywhere, and most importantly - there is always going to be people that put themselves in situations where they desire abortions. Abortions happen whether it is legal or not. So, my response to the abortion debate is that I think abortion should be legal to keep the practice safe, and that if we really want to decrease the numbers of abortions we should do that through education, more availability of contraceptives, etc.

4) I'm always attempting to analyze whether I am being confronted with fact or opinion. When confronted with opinions, I typically try to break down the foundations of those opinions to determine if they're based on something that I can logically understand and agree with, or not. There are cases when I disagree with people even though their logic is sound, and there are cases when I disagree with people because their opinions seem to have a nonsensical foundation to it.

5) I avoid superstition.

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Innominate.