Objectivism Reddit: Talk philosophy and share other values

In an earlier discussion, related to Pascal's Wager, I said that people can't choose to believe something. I'd like to clarify my thoughts on that.

Rand said that the one fundamental choice is the choice to think or not. I don't know of anything she said giving her reasoning behind that, but it's plausible to me. More precisely, the choice runs along a continuum from being totally unfocused to being in the sharpest possible focus, and one can choose among multiple options to focus on.

Our thought processes are the basis for our choices. Apart from the reasons for an action, choices would be little more than mental coin-flipping. Most of our actions aren't of deep philosophical importance by themselves, but they're the product of our thinking about what we want and how we can get it. For instance, thinking about the food in the refrigerator, preferred foods, and other scheduled items could lead a person to decide to go shopping today or wait until later. Thinking about how tiring it would be might lead to a different choice.

Belief doesn't work the same way. It's a more direct product of thought processes. A person can't just say, "Today I'll believe in God" in the same sense that one would say, "Today I'll buy pickled Brussels sprouts."

However, there is a sense in which a person can choose to believe, and it's relevant to Pascal's Wager. A person can repeatedly say, "I believe X. I do believe." It can be a spoken declaration or an internal thought. People do this when they want to be accepted by society or to escape punishment for heresy. Someone who's accepted the soundness of Pascal's Wager might do it, thinking that the exercise will evade punishment by a mind-reading God. Such people even pray to God to strengthen their belief. The logical fallacies are obvious, but the point is that such people choose, if not belief, the appearance of belief.

Here we reach the key point: Persistent pretense at believing can lead to actual belief. People don't like to think they're hypocrites, so they start believing what they claim to believe. Religious leaders know that, which is why they try to get children to recite credos regularly.

So in this indirect sense, people can choose to believe, and they might do so under the influence of arguments such as Pascal's.