BirreD@mail01.dnr.state.wi.us wrote:
> Adding my two cents' worth to the conversation about beliefs:
>
> There's a lot of overlap between these two meanings, and I can't pursue it
> in a short space. Perhaps we might find better terms to distinguish
> between them. It seems strange that the English language gets stuck here.
> Anyone care to help? Maybe there are words in other languages that would
> give us more precise meanings when translated into English than our own
> words do.
I sometimes go back to my American English dictionary, or other
references, to ground me when I consider the definition of words. Words
become ambiguous when they are used as jargon, or haphazardly.
Belief is a certainty or conviction--an "acceptance of, or confidence in,
an alleged fact or body of facts as true or right without positive
knowledge or proof." (Websters's Unabridged). Paul's letter to the
Hebrews (New Testament) defines faith (a synonym for belief) as "the proof
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Webster's provides
two superlative forms of belief--certainty (unquestioning belief and
positiveness in one's mind that something is true) and conviction
(settled, profound, or earnest belief that something is right). Changing
a belief may be dependent on the strength with which the belief is held.
Value speaks to "relative worth, merit or importance." In the
sociological use, it is defined as "the ideals, customs, institutions,
etc., of a society toward which the people of the group have an affective
regard. These values may be positive, as cleanliness, freedom, education,
etc., or negative, as cruelty, crime, or blasphemy." The ethical
definition is "any object or quality desirable as a means or as an end in
itself."
There are 16 different definitions used for this word, value, in my
American English dictionary. That is why it seems so confusing and
ambiguous. It is, if we don't consider which set of definitions we're
considering. It is usually a noun, but can be used as a transitive
verb--although not usually when used within the two definitions provided
above. However, I do value this list, and the ideas I find here.
Mental Models, according to the 5th D field book (p. 237), are defined
as "both the semipermanent tacit 'maps' of the world which people hold
in their long-term memory, and the short-term perceptions which people
build up as a part of their everyday reasoning processes. According to
some cognitive theorists, changes in short-term everyday mental models,
accumulating over time, will gradually be reflected in changes in
long-term deep-seated beliefs." (Adam Kahane).
--Richard C. "Doc" Holloway, Limen Development Network - olypolys@nwrain.com
" If one has a new way of thinking, why not apply it wherever one's thought leads to? It is certainly entertaining to let oneself do so, but it is also often very illuminating and capable of leading to new and deep insights."
-Frank Oppenheimer
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>