Program / Course 26: Comprehensive Assessment / Lesson 7.2
What you will learn
- Describe a change of mind in terms of what changed, when and what caused it.
- Distinguish causes that are reasons (arguments, evidence) from causes that are not (people, mood, experience).
- Judge honestly whether a change was well founded.
- Treat changes in both directions, toward and away from a view, with the same care.
The big idea
A change of mind has a cause. Sometimes the cause is an argument, a text or a piece of evidence. Sometimes it is a person, a loss, an experience or a change of mood. Both kinds of cause are real and both can be good or bad guides. A careful student asks of each change: what exactly changed, when, and what caused it, and was that cause a good reason? The same questions are asked of beliefs that have not changed. This is a private reflection, and nothing is submitted or graded.
Key terms
- Reason
- A consideration that counts for or against a belief, such as an argument or evidence.
- Cause
- Whatever brought about a change. A cause may or may not be a reason.
- Conversion
- A deep turning of the person toward a new way of life or belief. Used in religious and other contexts.
- Deconstruction
- In popular religious use, the process of taking apart and questioning one’s inherited beliefs. The word has several senses, so the student should say which is meant.
- Confirmation bias
- The tendency to look for and favor evidence that supports what one already thinks.
- Epistemic humility
- A readiness to admit the limits of one’s knowledge and the possibility of error.
Background
People change their minds for many reasons. A book may present an argument not met before. A friendship may open a different view. A death, an illness or a failure may change what seems important. A community may welcome or reject a person, and that experience can affect belief. None of these causes is illegitimate, but they are not all equally reliable guides to truth. A change prompted by a good argument deserves more weight than one prompted only by resentment or only by a desire to fit in.
The same holds for beliefs that have not changed. A belief may remain because it is well supported, or because it has never been tested, or because changing it would cost too much. A student who examines only their changes and not their constancy will have an incomplete picture. For this reason, the exercise asks for at least one belief that did not change, and asks why.
Religious communities often tell stories about change, such as conversion stories, and critics tell others, such as stories of leaving. Both tend to simplify. The student’s own account should resist a neat storyline, and should include mixed motives and unfinished questions. This program takes no side on the direction of anyone’s change, and the student is free to write what is true.
Step-by-step explanation
Step 1: Choose three changes
From your development map choose three changes that mattered to you. Include at least one that was difficult, and, if there is one, one that went against what you wanted to believe.
Step 2: Describe each change exactly
For each, write what you believed before, what you believe now, and about when the change happened. Avoid vague words such as grew or lost. Say what you now affirm or deny that you did not before.
Step 3: Name the causes
List everything that contributed: books, arguments, texts, people, experiences, moods, communities. Mark each as a reason or another kind of cause. Do not leave out the ones that are less flattering.
Step 4: Judge the change
Ask of each: Was the reason a good one? Would I accept the same kind of reason in the other direction? Did I look for the best opposing view? Is there more to read or ask before I can be sure? Record your honest answer, including that you cannot yet say.
Step 5: Examine a constant belief
Choose one belief that did not change. Ask why it did not. Is it well supported? Has it been tested against the best objections? Could it be held for other reasons, such as habit or loyalty? Write a short note.
- What exactly changed, and when?
- What were the causes, and which of them were reasons?
- Would I accept the same kind of cause in favor of the opposite view?
- Did I seek the best case against my new view?
- What mixed motives are in my account?
- Why has my most constant belief remained?
Examples
A change caused by an argument
After reading about the formation of the canon, a student came to hold that the Bible did not drop from heaven as a single book, and revised an earlier view. The cause was historical evidence, and the student rated it a good reason. (A constructed example.)
A change caused by experience
After a bereavement, a student found prayers of lament more truthful than prayers of praise, and began to read the Psalms differently. The cause was an experience, not an argument, and it clarified what the texts were saying. (A constructed example.)
A mixed cause
A student left a view after being treated unkindly by those who held it, and later found good reasons against the view. The student’s account says that both anger and reasons were present and that the reasons should be judged separately. (A constructed example.)
Different perspectives
Catholic
Newman’s Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine and his own change of church have been read as a model of reasoned change within Catholic thought. Catholic teaching also speaks of conversion as a work of grace joined to the mind and will.
Orthodox
Orthodox writers speak of metanoia, a change of mind and heart, as a lifelong turning to God. Change of understanding is then seen as part of repentance, in the broad sense of the word.
Protestant
Protestant traditions often emphasize conversion as a decisive turning and reformation of life by Scripture. Many also hold that the believer is always in need of reform, and some stress that doubt can be part of faith.
Scholarly and psychological
Research on belief change finds that social ties, emotion and identity influence belief as well as argument. Researchers also find that people usually overrate how much they follow reasons alone. This is true of believers and nonbelievers.
Why it matters
Understanding why one changed is part of understanding what one believes. It protects against holding a view for a bad reason, and it makes it possible to explain a view honestly to others, including those who disagree.
Common misunderstandings
Misunderstanding: Only reasons are legitimate causes of belief.
Correction: Experiences and relationships also shape belief, often properly. The task is to ask what each cause shows and how much weight it deserves.
Misunderstanding: A change away from a belief is a loss of faith, and a change toward one is a gain.
Correction: The program does not make such judgments. Each change is to be described and assessed on its causes.
Misunderstanding: A belief that has not changed has been proved.
Correction: It may be well supported, or it may be unexamined. Constancy alone is not evidence.
Knowledge check
What is the difference between a reason and a cause?
A reason is a consideration that counts for or against a belief, such as evidence or an argument. A cause is anything that brought about a change, including reasons but also experiences, relationships and moods. A change can have causes that are not reasons, and these should be named and weighed honestly.
Why examine a belief that has not changed?
Because constancy may reflect good support or only habit, loyalty or fear of cost. Asking why a belief remained shows whether it has been tested. Looking only at changes would give a one sided account of the student’s thinking.
How can a student judge whether a change was well founded?
By asking whether the main cause was a good reason, whether the student would accept the same kind of reason in the other direction, whether the best opposing view was considered and whether more study is needed. The answer may be that it is too early to say, and that is acceptable.
Does the program prefer a direction of change?
No. It does not say that students should move toward or away from any view. It asks that changes and constancies be described honestly and examined fairly. The reflection is private and carries no certificate, credit or degree.
Think it through
- Is there a change you have not admitted even to yourself?
- Which cause in your list would you least like others to read, and why?
- Would you give the same weight to a friend’s argument as to a stranger’s?
- What would it take to change your mind on a major point?
Independent assignment
Three changes and one constancy
In your own notebook, write about 500 words. Describe three changes of mind: what changed, when, the causes and your judgment of each. Then examine one belief that did not change and say why. Do not send this to anyone or post it anywhere.
Further study
- Augustine of Hippo, Confessions An account of a change of mind and life, to read selectively.
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Fallacies For noticing errors in your own reasoning.
- Blaise Pascal, Pensées On reason, the heart and belief, to read selectively.
- Eleonore Stump, Wandering in Darkness: Narrative and the Problem of Suffering On suffering and the experience of faith, to read critically.
- Romans 12:2 Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind.
- Acts 17:11 The Bereans examined the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.