LOL. If truth exists independently of beliefs, how is there not a difference between believing and knowing other than subjective certainty? See?
No, I don't see.
Of course truth exists independently of belief. I mean, let's take the shape of the Earth. The Earth is a physical object, yes? It has a shape. That shape doesn't depend on your belief about it, or mine, or anyone else's.
If the earth is flat then it is flat whatever you or I believe. If it's a globe then it's a globe whatever you or I believe.
It can't be flat for you because you believe it to be and a globe for me because I believe it to be.
If you believe it's flat and I believe it's a globe then there are only two possibilities:
1) One of us is wrong
2) Both or us are wrong (it could be a cube).
We cannot both be correct because we believe contradictory things. The truth of the matter is absolute and it is independent of our beliefs about it.
The only semantic difference between these three sentences:
"I think the earth is a globe"
"I believe the earth is a globe"
"I know the earth is a globe"
Is the level of certainty you're expressing. A lot of people "know" that Aled Jones sang Walking In The Air in The Snowman (he didn't) or that Vikings had horns on their helmets (they didn't). Saying you "know" something doesn't make you correct, you're just saying you're certain about something. You can be certain and wrong at the same time.
There is a difference between blind belief and evidence based belief, but evidence based belief is the reason that innocent people get convicted of crimes they didn't commit, all the time. That's what you're supporting.
It's not merely that I'm supporting it. It's the only game in town.
The only way to come to a belief about pretty much anything is by assessing the evidence. What else is there?
You simultaneously demand proof - I see you're doing it in another thread here:
https://forum.tfes.org/index.php?topic=20002.msg280628#msg280628While in this thread you're accepting that that proof cannot exist.
Of course I'm incredulous of anything NASA produces. That's actually a compliment. Thank you.
It's neither a compliment nor an insult. If you blindly believe everything you're told by an authority then that's foolish.
But if you blindly
disbelieve everything you're told by an authority then that's equally foolish.