Getting to the Truth: Faith or Evidence?

Peter Boghossian is an expert on critical thinking, and in this video lecture he explores the relative merits of faith and evidence as tools to understand ‘the truth’.

 

Jesus, the Easter Bunny, and Other Delusions: Just Say No! from Philosophy News on Vimeo.

Here is what others have said about the lecture:

“In this talk, sponsored by The Freethinkers of Portland State University and published by philosophynews.com, Dr. Boghossian argues that faith-based processes are unreliable and unlikely to lead one to the truth. Since our goal as knowers is to have more true beliefs than false ones, faith, as a process for getting to the truth, should be abandoned in favor of other, more reliable processes. The talk was followed by a question and answer session from the audience.” Paul Pardi, philosophynews

“Dr. Boghossian has constructed a fascinating critique of faith as a reasoning process, orthogonal to religion, and orthogonal to the arguments of Sam Harris who has emphasized the consequences of religious faith. Boghossian’s approach, building from the axiom that people seek to maximize true belief, and minimize false belief, is direct and blunt, and yet encourages contemplation of faith by those who rely upon it as a reasoning process — independent of specific ideas which may be deeply personal to religious practitioners. Approaching faith from this angle is an original contribution to the global discourse, and complementary to The End of Faith arguments from Sam Harris. Peter Boghossian also employs some humor, inviting his audience to jettison faith.” Gary Longsine