I am starting a project to compile a collection of books whose arguments influenced my beliefs and document exactly how each one did so. I find that we change our minds quite frequently during our lives, but we often aren’t willing – or able – to admit it when we do. That is partly because, as a rule, these shifts occur, not as foundation-shaking quakes, but as small tremors in our beliefs. Yet I strongly believe we should distinguish gradual, continuous evolution of beliefs with rigid consistency in them.
I expect this will be a difficult but useful exercise, and I hope to discover the motivations, contours, and major shifts of my own beliefs in the process.