5/31/02
-It is useful to believe that lobsters do not feel pain when boiled alive, because otherwise I'd feel too guilty to eat them.

W.K. Clifford: "It is wrong for anyone at any time to believe anything without sufficient evidence."
--wrong=morally or ethically wrong

-Is it morally ok to believe something you have insufficient evidence for if believing it makes your life better in some way? Better meaning happier, more productive, mare meaningful, peaceful, satisfying)

-Do we have a duty to believe the truth?--if so, can that duty be trumped by other considerations?

-Can you be MORALLY justified in holding an EPISTEMICALLY UNJUSTIFIED belief?
-Mild, Baseless Optimism
-->increases achievement
-->makes person happier
*if you don't have freewill, you don't have ethics*
-"Driving my car isn't that dangerous if I wear my seat belt."
-"Someday I will die and there is no afterlife." <--rational, but possibly harmful beneficial unjustified belief: Heaven awaits!