Faith, Commitment, and Belief: Public Lecture with Lara Buchak

The lecture took place on February 5, 2026. About the lecture: This talk concerns the role of faith in what you do and what you believe. Professor Buchak argues that having faith in a claim means taking risks on that claim without further evidence, and remaining committed to taking those risks even in the face of evidence against the claim. She shows that having faith can be rational in certain circumstances, and that those who lack faith stand to miss out on important goods. She then applies this view of faith and commitments to three questions. The first concerns the rational response to disagreement with one's peers. The second concerns the role of traditions in scientific, religious, and moral life. The third concerns when and why it can be rational to defer to an authority rather than our own reason. About Lara Buchak: Lara Buchak is Professor of Philosophy at Princeton University. Her work spans decision theory, epistemology, ethics, social choice theory, and the philosophy of religion. Her book Risk and Rationality (2013) examines how people ought to take risk into account when making decisions, and argues that ordinary decision-makers can be fully rational even by ideal standards. Her subsequent work applies these ideas to ethical questions, including questions in distributive ethics, medical ethics, and climate policy. A central ongoing project explores the nature and rationality of faith, with particular attention to the roles of risk-taking and commitment.