“You Know, I Learned Something Today” by Henry Jacoby and the Concept of Believing

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Quiz #3: You Know, I Learned Something Today
The paper, You Know, I Learned Something Today by Henry Jacoby gives a philosophical analysis of the controversies that surround the aspect of believing using the satirical and animated series South Park. Jacoby has featured Stan Marsh, Kyle, and Cartman in the different episodes of the film to help debunk the philosophical view of belief as per W.K Clifford and Blaise Pascal. The paper further tries to clearly explain the different aspects that are often associated with the broad concept of believing and how they might play out in different contexts, referring to the different episodes in the film.
W.K. Clifford presents himself as a strict believer of substantial evidence as per the reading. According to Clifford, it is “wrong always, everywhere, and for anyone, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence” (Jacoby 2). Believing in something simply because it makes one feel good with a total disregard of the evidence overwhelms one’s ability to express self-control, effectively make judgments, and even question the legitimacy of the evidence (Jacoby 1).
Rational belief can simply be defined as that which makes perfect sense, logical, and conforms with reality. As per the reading, rational belief must be backed with evidence, and for one to make a rather outrageous claim, they should be armed with tonnes of evidence to back it up (Jacoby 1). Making a proclamation without enough evidence to back it up or prove beyond reasonable doubt amounts to irrational beliefs.
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