The nature of belief is considered to be a specific faint feeling that is a signal
to the person that he or she is believing the item under consideration. Disbelief is a
different specific feeling that is a signal to the person that the item is disbelieved. The
purpose of belief is to be one of the important guides to practical action. Belief
provides a direct prompt to action, and, by its regulation of inquiry, gives speed and
economy to reaching decisions. Good and prompt practical action is important for
evolutionary fitness. When the criterion of indicating truth is discarded and the
criterion of guiding action is adopted many of the puzzling observations about belief
fall into place, including the existence of mistaken beliefs and of personally unverified
beliefs, the biases of reasoning, the inability to withhold judgement, and the existence
of vacillating beliefs. Belief also serves the human need to belong to a group that has a
shared set of beliefs about values. The second part of the chapter is a brief personal
note on the history of my interest in belief, and a reassessment of two of my own
contentious beliefs. The chapter ends with notes on two old philosophical questions:
the relations between belief, knowledge, and opinion; and theories of truth. These are
looked at from the perspective of the feeling theory of belief.
Keywords: Feeling theory of belief, Knowledge, Opinion, Truth.
