philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

and

psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

, an alief is an automatic or habitual

belief A belief is a subjective Attitude (psychology), attitude that something is truth, true or a State of affairs (philosophy), state of affairs is the case. A subjective attitude is a mental state of having some Life stance, stance, take, or opinion ...

-like attitude, particularly one that is in tension with a person's explicit beliefs. For example, a person standing on a transparent balcony may ''believe'' that they are safe, but ''alieve'' that they are in danger. A person watching a sad movie may ''believe'' that the characters are completely fictional, but their ''aliefs'' may lead them to cry nonetheless. A person who is hesitant to eat fudge that has been formed into the shape of feces, or who exhibits reluctance in drinking from a sterilized

bedpan A bedpan or bed pan is a device used as a receptacle for the urine and/or Human feces, feces of a person who is confined to a bed and therefore not able to use a toilet or chamber pot. Bedpans can be either reusable or disposable, and include s ...

may ''believe'' that the substances are safe to eat and drink, but may ''alieve'' that they are not. The term ''alief'' was introduced by

Tamar Gendler Tamar Szabó Gendler (born December 20, 1965) is an American academic and philosopher. She has been the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Yale University, where she is also the Vincent J. Scully Professor of Philosophy and a Professor o ...

, a professor of philosophy and cognitive science at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, in a pair of influential articles published in 2008. Since the publication of these original articles, the notion of alief has been utilized by Gendler and others—including Paul Bloom and

Daniel Dennett Daniel Clement Dennett III (March 28, 1942 – April 19, 2024) was an American philosopher and cognitive scientist. His research centered on the philosophy of mind, the philosophy of science, and the philosophy of biology, particularly as those ...

—to explain a range of psychological phenomena in addition to those listed above, including the pleasure of stories, the persistence of positive illusions, certain

religious belief A belief is a subjective attitude that something is true or a state of affairs is the case. A subjective attitude is a mental state of having some stance, take, or opinion about something. In epistemology, philosophers use the term "belief ...

s, and certain

psychiatric Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, mood, emotion, and behavior. Initial psychiatric assessment of ...

disturbances, such as

phobia A phobia is an anxiety disorder, defined by an irrational, unrealistic, persistent and excessive fear of an object or situation. Phobias typically result in a rapid onset of fear and are usually present for more than six months. Those affected ...

s and

obsessive–compulsive disorder Obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is a mental disorder in which an individual has intrusive thoughts (an ''obsession'') and feels the need to perform certain routines (''Compulsive behavior, compulsions'') repeatedly to relieve the dis ...

References

External links

Tamar Szabó Gendler’s personal homepage

Bloggingheads.tv: Paul Bloom & Tamar Szabo Gendler, Percontations: Beliefs, Aliefs, and Daydreams (May 31, 2009)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alief (Belief) Belief Concepts in epistemology