# William Clifford, The Ethics Of Belief - Individuals' Beliefs, Society, And Humanity

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/sadler-s-lectures-233636/william-clifford-the-ethics-of-belief-individuals-beliefs-society-and-humanity
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/sadler-s-lectures-233636/william-clifford-the-ethics-of-belief-individuals-beliefs-society-and-humanity.md
Podcast: [Sadler's Lectures](https://stenobird.com/podcast/sadler-s-lectures-233636)
Published: 2026-05-26T16:26:19+00:00
Episode link: https://soundcloud.com/gregorybsadler/william-clifford-the-ethics-1
Audio file: https://feeds.soundcloud.com/stream/2318227529-gregorybsadler-william-clifford-the-ethics-1.mp3
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Duration seconds: 863

## 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 Clifford's contention that the beliefs people hold, even if they seem to be quite trivial, can have significant importance and consequences. His argument is that we inevitably draw upon and share the beliefs of others, not only in the present, but across generations 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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