We Think Our Beliefs Are Based on Sound Evidence

Another reason to adopt moderate skepticism concerns the very real danger that we might be deceiving ourselves in our beliefs, even when we think our beliefs are based on sound evidence.

One way in which this can happen is well captured by a lyric from “Nowhere Man.” We are told that the Nowhere Man is blind because he “just sees what he wants to see.”

To some degree or another, probably all of us suffer from this problem, a point that the Beatles note by saying of the Nowhere Man, “isn’t he a bit like you and me?”

People tend to notice those cases in their perceptual environment that conform to their beliefs, and simply not to notice cases that stand as evidence against those beliefs.

The Beatles and Philosophy
Nothing You Can Think That Can’t Be Thunk