Faith
Faith is the acceptance of a claim in the absence of evidence, or against it. Objectivism rejects it as a means of knowledge, holding that it is not a supplement to reason but its negation, and that a claim offered without evidence is arbitrary rather than merely unproven.
“Faith is the acceptance of allegations without evidence or proof, either apart from or against the evidence of one's senses and one's reason.”
~ Ayn Rand, "Faith and Force: The Destroyers of the Modern World", Philosophy: Who Needs It
Why it is not a shortcut
The case against faith is not that its conclusions happen to be false. It is that faith supplies no way to tell. If a claim is accepted because it was asserted, then any claim can be accepted the same way, and there is no procedure for choosing between two people who assert incompatible things with equal conviction. Faith cannot resolve a disagreement; it can only escalate one.
This is the connection Rand drew between faith and force. Where reason is abandoned as the means of settling questions, what remains is the assertion of one will against another, and force becomes the only available arbiter. Hence the pairing in the title of her essay.
The arbitrary
Objectivism holds that a claim advanced with no evidence is not a candidate for belief at all. It is not "possibly true and awaiting proof"; it is outside the realm of cognition, and the proper response is to dismiss it rather than to argue against it.
The burden of proof lies with the person making the claim. Demanding that others disprove an assertion inverts the relationship: there is nothing to disprove until something has been offered. See Arbitrary and Proof.
Not the same as trust
Ordinary English uses "faith" for several things Objectivism does not object to:
- Trust in a person, based on a track record. That is an inductive conclusion from evidence, not faith in the epistemological sense.
- Accepting expert testimony, where one has grounds to think the expert competent and honest, and where the claim could in principle be checked.
- Confidence in an outcome based on knowledge of the people and factors involved.
Each of these rests on evidence. What is rejected is the acceptance of a claim because no evidence supports it, or the treatment of belief without evidence as a virtue.
Faith and mysticism
Mysticism is the broader doctrine that there is a means of knowledge apart from sensory evidence and reason: revelation, intuition, instinct, or an inner voice. Faith is the mental act that mysticism requires. Both rest on the primacy of consciousness, the premise that some consciousness determines reality rather than perceiving it.
Rand also treated the reason-emotion dichotomy as related, since treating feelings as a source of knowledge is a secular form of the same error. Emotions are consequences of one's values and appraisals, and so are data about oneself rather than evidence about the world.
See also
- Reason · Mysticism · Religion · Arbitrary
- Proof · Objectivity · Logic · Skepticism
- Primacy of Consciousness · Reason-Emotion Dichotomy · Emotions
Discussion
References
- Rand, Ayn. "Faith and Force: The Destroyers of the Modern World", Philosophy: Who Needs It. Bobbs-Merrill, 1982.
- Peikoff, Leonard. Objectivism: The Philosophy of Ayn Rand, chapter 5.
External links
| Epistemology Topics |
|---|
| Senses | Consciousness | Volition | Concepts: Unit, Concept-Formation |
| Objectivity | Knowledge: Context, Hierarchy | Reason: Certainty, Truth, the Arbitrary | Emotions |