Violator said:
My point earlier in bringing up the created nature of mathematics is that, for math to make sense, one must simply accept the rules of math. To me, that is an act of faith. Faith in math perhaps, more likely faith in the person teaching you math.
Faith is really just an extension of irrational stubbornness, which can be a very useful survival mechanism. It can allow us to ignore the facts and push ourselves beyond what we see as our limits, but it can just as easily get us killed when we should have known better.
Some may have faith in their teachers, in systems, gods, or in facts, and you are right, quite a lot do, and many will accept what is taught to them, by people in authority, simply because it is given to them by authority. I am told, so it must be thus.
However, one always chooses one's teacher, or at least, one chooses which teachers to pay attention to. If all I did was regurgitate what my professors/teachers told me, then yes, that requires nothing more than faith, belief without evidence. I am told, I believe. But I would not call that 'learning'. A computer can record facts.
Rather, I choose my teachers, I choose those who I will believe, based on evidence, based on what I can see they know, and what others have said about them, I choose to believe them, even if I don't understand this or that. The important part is that I rely on some kind of evidence for my belief. I may be wrong, the evidence might lead me astray. But I shouldn't accept it simply because we are told. Revealed truth is unquestioned truth, it requires faith, acceptance without qualification. Most people actually question authority these days, they lack faith.
Also, I suck at calculus, never understood it, tried to learn it, didn't work out. I can't say it works, but I've been told its useful. If I had learned it, and understood it, then I would be in the same position as I am with 1+1=2. I'm not with regards to calculus, but I know there are people who seem to be able to use it quite well, and more importantly, they are able to use it for things I can readily observe. I'm not absolutely certain about anything.
What the 'problem of induction' shows us is that we should be skeptical. We should look for evidence, but even when we have evidence, that's a far cry from 'certainty'.
Hume wasn't an irrational skeptic, he wasn't a solipsist, denying everything. He was an empiricist, an observer of things. We should remain skeptical, and keep an open mind. Faith is, in that sense, the closed mind, because it doesn't need evidence, it claims certainty, and even if contradictory evidence comes to light, faith has no use for it. With faith one becomes a hero, a tyrant or a fool, and one might argue, all three.
Some may have faith, may claim certainty, in logic and science, but its not required.