How do you know what you believe is right?

[Punk_Rocker_22]

Everyone thinks that what they think is right.
They also think the evidence that proves it right is unbiased and untampered.

So how do you know that what you think is right?

My beliefs on a lot of things have changed in the last 10 years.
I use to believe in god
I use to think the US government was the "good guys"
I use to think drugs were bad
the list goes on

10 years ago I thought I was right then I believed those things, and now I think that I'm right when I don't believe them. So how can you tell.

One way I thought of was to look at the flow of converts.
How many Christians become atheists?
How many atheists become Christians?

I'd say the flow is in the direction towards atheism.
Hardley any atheists become Christians. The converse is not true.
The cliche of "seeing the light" is far overused, but I think it applies here. What you realize the true truth, its difficult to go back.

The other test I thought of was to look indoctrination.
Does the person hold the same beliefs as their parents (or government/media)?
If the beliefs you hold true are things that you were taught to believe since you were born then you need to seriously consider that they are wrong. If you develop your own opinion about something then its far more likely to be true then if its something you were just told to believe all your life.

I was told all my life that drugs are pure evil. Now I believe that smoking weed and doing some other drugs is ok. Sure, there are still plenty of drugs that are bad for you. But I decided those drugs were dangerous on my own by doing independent research with sources such as erowid.

The third test is that you must hold some beliefs with uncertainty
I have no idea what economy would be best. I used to be a capitalist, then a socialist, then a communist, then I favored anarcho-capitalism, and right now I have no idea what would be best, just a few thoughts that would make the current state better.
My thoughts of drug legalization is also undecided. If everything is legal then of course it will cause problems. Look at alcohol, tobacco, and food. All three are legal, and all three kill more people then any other drug. But if everything is illegal then there will be a huge black market industry of violence and people will get the drugs anyways. Drug legalization is an odd thing to me. I use DXM safely every now and then and want it to stay legal so I can keep using it. At the same time other people use it and kill themselves. They probably shouldn't be using it or should be required to undergo some sort of education of it. But if they don't undergo the education they're still going to get it anyways. So where do we draw the line? Point is, you can't know everything and you have to keep an open mind

The fourth and final test is that you must understand that there is no good or evil.
A substance can't be inherently evil, and neither can a person, country, government, ect. Hitler didn't wake up each morning and ask himself how he could be as evil as possible. Its a very post modern idea and I think its one of the most important. In america everyone hates everyone else in the middle east. In the middle east everyone hates everyone in america. A broad generalization, I know. But still. Its just never a good idea to think of something as being an absolute evil, thats just a method of control. To have a war or drugs, or a war or terror, or a war or anything is just stupid. A war for oil is more understandable, or a war for power, or control. That's was war is really about, obtaining something, not getting rid of something.

[Mantikore]

not everyone thinks like that.

a lot of people know that their opinion may be flawed, or influenced by certain factors, and will acknowledge them.

you just have to always keep the thought in the back of your mind i guess

[Deliteful Despot]

Congratulations OP, you've had life experiences that have shaped how you view the world.

[infidelguy]

It is very interesting how you brought up the topic of the religious indoctrination of children. Its very strange how people who grew up with almost no religion in there life are 'atheist' but have almost no interest in the idea of religion or even grasp the concepts.

contrasted with kids who broke free from the religious indoctrination of there religions when they were younger. these people tend to be more concerned with 'atheism' and the god concept even if they dont believe it to be correct.

While both the above parties do not believe in religion, it is clear that the latter has a more through idea of what is right, because they grew up immersed in what is wrong. For you to 'believe' in something you need to actually experience through primary or secondary sources why what you believe is right or wrong. much like how these born again atheists feel more strongly about religious ideas.

The way you think and how you were brought up has a very big influence on how you determine what is right and what is wrong. and it is also true, (evident by these born again atheists) that over time you take experiences from life, and apply them to your 'idealogy of how life works'

[Sir Space Case]

How do I know what I believe is right?

I do as Terrence McKenna tells me, "Deal with the raw data and trust myself."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMNAOk1bMDw

I'm sure you could find that just a little bit helpful. Just open your mind to all the view points and critique them, then make your decision.

[lostmyface]

faith. i dont KNOW my beliefs are right, but i have faith that they are no more wrong than another belief.

[KikoSanchez]

Semantically, this is an odd question. If you believe x, you are not claiming that x is truth or knowledge, only that you believe it. This means you are more confident than not in x, based on some evidential chain. For instance - "I believe I'll make it to school alive today." This is not a claim to knowledge, as obviously you can't speak of knowing truth of something that is yet to happen, but based on inductive reasoning, you have good reason to believe in your claim. A better question would be "How do you know if what you accept as knowledge/truth corresponds with reality?" You would also have to change what you are questioning, for example I would throw out such value-laden claims such as "drugs are good/bad" or "the U.S. gov't is good/bad" as these claims need a lot of contingencies, such as good/bad for who, etc.

[Martian Luger King]

Because I can't be wrong.

[Zay]

I believe that 2+2=4, that there are no square circles, and that there is no god. One of the best things I could have done for myself in 2008 was dump moral relativism. Math is objective, science is objective, and while more complicated, you can hold human ideas to the same standards. It's all optional of course. The scientific method does not exist, neither does math, so you can choose to half-ass it, just know that you're wrong if you do. Christians are objectively wrong, so are Muslims, so are nationalists, so are liberals, and conservatives, and libertarians, and strong nihilists, etc. May the best combination of evidence and deductive reasoning win.

[Zay]

Originally Posted by Sir Space Case

How do I know what I believe is right?

I do as Terrence McKenna tells me, "Deal with the raw data and trust myself."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rMNAOk1bMDw

I'm sure you could find that just a little bit helpful. Just open your mind to all the view points and critique them, then make your decision.

Holy crap.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLMRD...eature=related

How many liters of acid do I have to guzzle to become so enlightened?