People can hold mutually exclusive views without believing either

Evidence

It is always possible, moreover, for a man to hold mutually exclusive views simultaneously; or consecutively; or, as we have seen above, to repeat mutually exclusive views without giving both — or either — credence. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 2481

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: A surprisingly modern point about cognitive inconsistency embedded in an obscure medieval-studies footnote — that authors can repeat claims without endorsing them.
• XREF: connects to: Medieval writers could hold mutually exclusive views without noticing contradiction; People readily hold mutually contradictory conspiracy beliefs simultaneously. — Anna Merlan, Republic of Lies, 94; People conform publicly to beliefs they privately reject — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 321