Table Of ContentTowards a Science of Belief Systems
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Towards a Science of
Belief Systems
Edmund Griffiths
Wolfson College, University of Oxford
© Edmund Griffi ths 2014
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-34636-0
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in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published 2014 by
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For my parents
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Contents
Preface and Acknowledgements viii
Introduction: The Idea of a Science of Belief Systems (§§1–15) 1
1 You Don’t Know What It’s Like! (§§16–29) 13
2 A Descriptive Science of Logic (§§30–51) 30
3 Some Notes on Affect (§§52–71) 54
4 Elements of Comparative Method (§§72–99) 80
5 Belief Systems and the Materialist Conception of History
(§§100–116) 103
6 Beliefs That Are Not Supposed to Be Wholly Believed
(§§117–128) 115
7 A Theory of Superstition, in Thirteen Paragraphs (§§129–141) 125
8 Believing in Fictional Beings (§§142–159) 136
Instead of a Conclusion (§§160–169) 150
Appendix: The Use of Symbolic Notation in Descriptive Logic 155
Bibliography 162
Index 183
vii
Preface and Acknowledgements
People believe in a great many things. I suppose we are all continually
struck by the diversity of beliefs entertained not merely in distant lands
or in the far reaches of antiquity, but everywhere around us: even our
friends, neighbours, and colleagues frequently prove to view the world
in ways that must impress us as radically unfamiliar. And yet we ordi-
narily know very little about what other people believe. (Perhaps we
are too busy deciding whether or not we agree.) This book starts from
the conviction that what people believe, why they believe it, and how
it feels to believe it are among the most absorbing and significant ques-
tions that can be asked; and that they can best be answered on the basis
of a rigorous and general method, one that will be applicable equally to
beliefs we may regard as ‘religious’, ‘political’, ‘philosophical’, ‘magical’,
or something else altogether – and, also, applicable equally to beliefs we
may regard as true or as false.
The cornerstone of the method developed in this book is descriptive
logic – the systematic reconstruction of the logical sequences by which
particular doctrines (with their associated charge of emotions) are linked
together into a more or less coherent belief system. Existing logic tends
to be normative: it seeks to tell us how we ought to reason, without
regard to whether or not we do actually reason that way. Descriptive
logic investigates how people have in fact reasoned, on questions where
they feel a strong emotional commitment. Ultimately, the comparative
application of descriptive logic promises to lead to a typological classifi-
cation of belief systems based on their logical form, and, beyond that, to
a general account of the kinds of thought processes that people habitu-
ally use in giving doctrinal expression to their basic sense of how the
world is.
There seems no compelling reason why what people believe should
not eventually constitute the subject matter of a distinct and cohesive
science, on the same kind of footing as what they do (history), how they
live (economics), and what they create (literary and artistic criticism). I do
not claim, however, that the study of belief systems is yet a science in the
full sense: the ‘Towards’ in my title is more than simply a gesture in the
direction of modesty. Much further research is needed, both on general
theory and in the logical reconstruction of individual belief systems.
viii
Preface and Acknowledgements ix
This book, in fact, represents no more than a first attempt at breaking
the ground; and, while I certainly intend to continue the work myself,
I shall be very happy to see what I have written here rapidly superseded
by contributions from more skilful hands than mine.
* * *
This book was researched and written during my tenure (2007–2014)
of a non-stipendiary Research Fellowship at Wolfson College, Oxford.
Some sections, especially §§95–97, draw on material from my unpub-
lished doctoral thesis, ‘Aleksandr Prokhanov and post-Soviet esoteri-
cism’ (University of Oxford, DPhil thesis, 2007): I am grateful to my
then supervisor, Michael Nicholson, and to my examiners, Geoffrey
Hosking and Catriona Kelly. Certain of the ideas in the book were
first presented to meetings of the Oxford Communist Corresponding
Society, where they were received with that organization’s customary
perspicacity and grace. The book was read in manuscript, in whole or
in part, by Vladimir V. Gligorov, R. E. Griffiths, Myroslava Halushka,
Jon S. Kennedy, Sima Ben, Philip Walden, and James Womack: I was
taken aback by the wisdom, kindness, and acuity of their (occasionally
bracing) comments, and the reader will scarcely be in any doubt that
remaining errors and infelicities are mine alone. To Myro I am further
indebted for the rights to the painting that appears on the front cover.
I have learnt much from conversations with Ghayur Bangash, George
O’Connor, and C. J. Walton; and the fact that Mr Walton has also made
the index means I can be confident that that part of the book, at least,
has been prepared with absolute competence and rigour. I have bene-
fited from the courtesy and efficiency of the staff at the Bodleian Library
and the Taylor Bodleian Slavonic and Modern Greek Library, in Oxford.
Melanie Blair and Brendan George, at Palgrave Macmillan, have both
been unfailingly professional and supportive throughout. The debt I
owe my parents, finally, is very inadequately expressed in the dedica-
tion of the book to them.
