You Don't Have a Right to Believe Whatever You Want To
Document Type
Opinion
Publication Date
5-14-2018
Department 1
Philosophy
Abstract
Do we have the right to believe whatever we want to believe? This supposed right is often claimed as the last resort of the wilfully ignorant, the person who is cornered by evidence and mounting opinion: ‘I believe climate change is a hoax whatever anyone else says, and I have a right to believe it!’ But is there such a right?
We do recognise the right to know certain things. I have a right to know the conditions of my employment, the physician’s diagnosis of my ailments, the grades I achieved at school, the name of my accuser and the nature of the charges, and so on. But belief is not knowledge. [excerpt]
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
DeNicola, Daniel. "You don’t have a right to believe whatever you want to." Aeon, 14 May 2018.
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