Justifying Beliefs - Research Paper Example

Justifying Beliefs Most people just go about believing something especially if the greater majority of their peers, family or the society at large also believe in it. Ideally, beliefs should be defended on the three levels of pathos, ethos and logos. Pathos refers to a defense based on emotion, ethos refers to a defense based on the character of the speaker, and logos refers to defense based on reason. I personally do not see any advantage to believing something without examining it except the satisfaction of knowing (blindly) that you are right.

For me, a specific belief that is worth defending is that abortion is wrong. In defending it, I would first point out that I know of somebody who has gone through the process of abortion and has lived regretting it. Next, I would point out that abortion is almost always physically unhealthy for the mother. Next, I could appeal to reader’s emotion by asking how would one feel if he or she was aborted. These arguments would surely show that I have thoroughly examined my belief.