# William Clifford, The Ethics Of Belief - Beliefs and Traditions  - Sadler's Lectures

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Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/sadler-s-lectures-233636/william-clifford-the-ethics-of-belief-beliefs-and-traditions-sadler-s-lectures.md
Podcast: [Sadler's Lectures](https://stenobird.com/podcast/sadler-s-lectures-233636)
Published: 2026-05-30T13:05:06+00:00
Episode link: https://soundcloud.com/gregorybsadler/william-clifford-the-ethics-3
Audio file: https://feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/2318890340-gregorybsadler-william-clifford-the-ethics-3.mp3
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Duration seconds: 880

## Resource

This lecture discusses the William Clifford's 1877 essay "The Ethics Of Belief", in which he makes and argued for the central claim "it is wrong always, everywhere, and for any one, to believe anything upon insufficient evidence." It focuses on portion of part 2 of the essay that is devoted to Clifford's analysis of tradition. He distinguishes between particular traditions, developing within a specific group, culture, or civilization and the "tradition of the human race". He also makes an important distinction with the latter, arguing that any "tradition" that closes off inquiry does not actually serve humanity, and that a robust, useful tradition would actually lead to framing questions and promoting inquiry. To support my ongoing work, go to my Patreon site - www.patreon.com/sadler If you'd like to make a direct contribution, you can do so here - www.paypal.me/ReasonIO You can find over 4,000 philosophy videos in my main YouTube channel - www.youtube.com/user/gbisadler Get Clifford's The Ethics of Belief - https://amzn.to/41WkkYA

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## Transcript

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