Abstract
In Delusions and Other Irrational Beliefs, Lisa Bortolotti argues that the irrationality of delusions is no barrier to their being classified as beliefs. This comment asks how Bortolotti’s position may be affected if we accept that there are two distinct types of belief, belonging to different levels of mentality and subject to different ascriptive constraints. It addresses some worries Bortolotti has expressed about the proposed two-level framework and outlines some questions that arise for her if the framework is adopted. It also suggests that, rather than being beliefs that fail to meet the relevant standards of rationality, delusions may be non-doxastic acceptances that were never meant to meet them.
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
She writes ‘one can express conviction in the endorsement of the content of the belief to different extent’ ([12], p.12)
Schwitzgebel does not distinguish levels of belief, and some of the cases he would describe as ones of in-between belief, I would describe as cases of belief at one level only. I am suggesting here that there may be cases of in-between belief within each level.
References
Dennett, D.C. 1987. The intentional stance. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Dennett, D.C. 1991. Real patterns. Journal of Philosophy 88(1): 27–51.
Ryle, G. 1949. The concept of mind. London: Hutchinson.
Cohen, L.J. 1992. An essay on belief and acceptance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Engel, P. (ed.). 2000. Believing and accepting. Dordrecht: Kluwer.
Frankish, K. 2004. Mind and supermind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dennett, D.C. 1978. How to change your mind. In his Brainstorms: philosophical essays on mind and psychology, 300–309. Montgomery: Bradford Books.
Frankish, K. 2009. Systems and levels: dual-system theories and the personal-subpersonal distinction. In In two minds: dual processes and beyond, ed. J.St.B.T. Evans, and K. Frankish, 89–107. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Frankish, K. 2010. Dual-process and dual-system theories of reasoning. Philosophy Compass 5(10): 914–926.
Frankish, K., and J.St.B.T. Evans 2009. The duality of mind: an historical perspective. In In two minds: dual processes and beyond, ed. J.St.B.T. Evans, and K. Frankish, 1–29. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Schwitzgebel, E. 2010. Acting contrary to our professed beliefs, or the gulf between occurrent judgment and dispositional belief. Pacific Philosophical Quarterly 91(4): 531–553.
Bortolotti, L. 2010. Delusions and other irrational beliefs. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Frankish, K. 2009. Delusions: a two-level framework. In Psychiatry as cognitive neuroscience: philosophical perspectives, ed. M.R. Broome and L. Bortolotti, 269–284. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Schwitzgebel, E. 2001. In-between believing. Philosophical Quarterly 51(202): 76–82.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Frankish, K. Delusions, Levels of Belief, and Non-doxastic Acceptances. Neuroethics 5, 23–27 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12152-011-9123-7
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12152-011-9123-7