Nature of Belief

My mother holds a very strong belief that drinking a lot of diet cola, particularly with aspartame is a responsible factor leading to the development of multiple sclerosis. I find this quite interesting, as I have discovered some other people also sharing the same belief. After doing some research and study on this concept according to the medical literature, I discovered that peer reviewed medical journal articles and medical professionals do not agree with this principle. In particular, one well-known and renowned researcher reports that these claims are patently unfounded. Furthermore, experts representing the New England Journal of Medicine have written that allegations such as these are more than simply misinformation; but rather inherently dangerous, in that patients who may have symptoms of multiple sclerosis may blame their symptoms on the horrors of aspartame instead of seeking treatment for his or her ailment (Kotsonis, 2001).

I feel that unfortunately my mother has developed this misconception, which does not have any fact to prove it. As I have mentioned earlier, this is troubling and potentially harmful if she spreads this kind of conviction as if it were true, as other may get convinced by her conviction and start following this misconception. I tried to explain the fact behind it to my mother but she is not interested in paying any heed on my words because of the fact that she is my 'superior' being that she is my own mother. She has developed a very strong perception about this mentioned belief and dislikes to discuss about the strengths and weaknesses of it.

This is comparatively tough for me, as I am a kind of person who is dedicated in analyzing all I believe in to confirm that they will hold true under scrutiny. I have found that this is very similar to the works of Rene Descartes (Justin Skirry, 2008), especially as it refers to the concept of Cartesian doubt. It is fascinating to know that Descartes, an expert philosopher, also shared similar philosophy like me when it came to viewpoints that he held. But it goes farther than that. I am also of the same attitude that to have a strong conviction one should be able to defend it in the face of significant opposition. There must be some logical fact to prove authenticity of any belief. If the perception or thinking bears the weight of being questioned than it may be worth standing at the time of test. There should be well reversed strong facts to support the reality of any belief or conviction. Although it can be emotionally difficult to find one's true thoughts to the scrutiny of inspection by others.

What's more, Descartes doubted the truth of all his beliefs in order to determine which beliefs he could be certain were true. Methodological skepticism (MD) was chosen by Descartes. Methodological skepticism is contradictory to philosophical skepticism. MD is more about the process of examining one's beliefs rather than merely