"It's raining outside but I don't believe it is"

It's called Moore's paradox when you say "It's raining outside but I don't believe it is".

To be able to honestly make such a statement and believe it, it requires a mind capable of double-think, i.e. a mind that implicitly believes it has the ability to deceive itself, and yet doesn't consciously think of it in those terms, i.e. doesn't explicitly believe it. Fortunately, here is a case of an error you can prevent yourself and others from making ever again just by pointing it out.

A realistic example of such a sentence: someone said "I believe people are nicer than they really are." It's usually the part "really are" that refers to what they literally believe, while the part where someone uses the words "I believe…" refers to something else, it may be a paraphrased endorsement of a way of behaving, or it may be a Belief-in-belief.

Watch for the words "I believe…". You may have the habit of using it to present a simple belief-about-how-the-world-is, but there's a large group of people who don't, and instead communicate such beliefs when they say that something is a certain way, full stop. E.g. they'll say "snow is white" or "God exists", not "I believe snow is white" or "I believe God exists" (religious profession is usually a case of belief-in-belief). When such a person then goes so far as to add "I believe…", there is a different purpose, as explained above.

What links here

• *Don't Believe You'll Self-Deceive