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[VirianLexicon]:[belief]

!!!Belief
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"Assent to a proposition or affirmation, or the acceptance of a fact, opinion, or assertion as real or true, without immediate personal knowledge; reliance upon word or testimony; partial or full assurance without positive knowledge or absolute certainty; persuasion; conviction; confidence; as, belief of a witness; the belief of our senses." --Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

From this it follows that [belief|belief] can only occur where acceptance is not compelled, for if [acceptance] is compelled, then [belief|belief] is not required to accept that thing. [Belief|belief] is thus the acceptance of some thing as being provisionally true where:
* contradictory evidence exists which throws doubt upon or compels the rejection of the thing being accepted as truth.
* insufficient evidence exists to compel or suggest acceptance of the thing as truth.
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Alternatively an [agent] can be attributed a [belief|belief] in X when it acts[1] as if X is true. This sense of the word seems to be more common (in North America) and in the philosophical literature I've read. --DavidLucifer

[1] Assuming that the act is sincere, that is, without deception or sarcasm.
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See also: [acceptance], [faith], [trust], [truth], [truth value|truthvalue], [weyken] [Discussion-Lexicon-Belief-2003-09-03]
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