Is there anything you believe for completely arbitrary reasons and is there anything wrong with that if so? “Arbitrary” is one of those funny little words that has, over time, just about flipped its meaning. It comes from the Latin for coming or going to serve as a judge—or a witness. Now it very nearly means something serving as the opposite, as a “reason” without a reason, either abstract, in the manner of law, or particular, in the manner of testimony. “That’s just, like, your opinion, man...”
All religious beliefs are examples of arbitrary beliefs.
It's wrong to have arbitrary beliefs because they are arbitrary. It's in the name.
I.e. there is no reason to believe these things.
"are two questions that are asked relentlessly these days in all sorts of areas where they have no business being asked."
There are no areas where such questions don't have business being asked.
"But as the sole determiner of what is and isn’t true, “proof” represents a deeply impoverished epistemology."
Reality is the sole determiner of what is and isn't true. A proper epistemology is one that is in line with reality.
The challenge for a lot of people is that they don't want to deal with reality and so they turn to the arbitrary as an exercise in evasion. The term for such people is: immoral.
All religious beliefs are examples of arbitrary beliefs.
It's wrong to have arbitrary beliefs because they are arbitrary. It's in the name.
I.e. there is no reason to believe these things.
"are two questions that are asked relentlessly these days in all sorts of areas where they have no business being asked."
There are no areas where such questions don't have business being asked.
"But as the sole determiner of what is and isn’t true, “proof” represents a deeply impoverished epistemology."
Reality is the sole determiner of what is and isn't true. A proper epistemology is one that is in line with reality.
The challenge for a lot of people is that they don't want to deal with reality and so they turn to the arbitrary as an exercise in evasion. The term for such people is: immoral.