Sincere belief shapes action regardless of the belief’s actual truth.

Evidence

If people believe it to be true, that will not make it true, but their actions will be the same as they would have been, if it had been true. Sympathy and understanding require that this should be understood. — Norman Daniel, Islam and the West, 1737

Categorization

• XREF: The pragmatist/William James point that belief has real effects — echoes the ‘as-if’ logic of myths-as-functional-truth, familiar from conversations about religious pluralism and models of religion. — connects to: Acting as if a belief were true produces the same actions as actual truth; No factual state can by itself motivate any action — Jean-Paul Sartre, Being and Nothingness: An Essay on…, 1069
• DEFINE: Defines the ‘as if’ stance: one can treat a situation as true for purposes of understanding without asserting its truth.