Cycel said:
If something is beyond our consciousness that says to me we are unaware of it. I am not sure how we could form a belief about something, the existence of which we are not aware. Perhaps I am not understanding what you mean by "beyond our consciousness"?
by 'beyond' I mean 'in addition to'... we know our own consciousness exists... things in addition to that? the chair I'm sitting on, the sun in the sky...
I am still not sure I am following. Yes, we know our consciousness exists in that we are self-aware. Do I know that my chair exists? Yes. Do I know that the sun exists? Yes.
Dan said:
would you agree that acceptance of that requires belief?
I wouldn't say the chair I am sitting on or the keyboard I am using to type this post is beyond my consciousness. I think talking about physical objects this way just muddies the water. If by belief you mean faith, then do I require faith to believe my chair or the sun exists? Definitely not.
Do I have a particular belief about this chair I am sitting in? No. It's a chair. It's a comfortable chair, but it is just a chair. Do I have particular beliefs about the sun? I suppose I do. I have a lot of scientific knowledge about the sun and its place in the galaxy and all this information can be verified.
It is one thing to hold beliefs about objects and things that you see and measure. It is something else all together to claim beliefs about things that you cannot see or measure. Don’t you think?
You may want to clarify your question a bit further.