croyance

Croyance is the mental acceptance that something is true, real, or probable. It covers both individual convictions and shared belief systems, and can refer to statements about people, events, or the world across religious, scientific, political, or everyday contexts.

The word derives from the French croire, to believe, which in turn comes from Latin credere. In French, croyance marks the content that is believed, as in une croyance religieuse or les croyances populaires, and it is often contrasted with savoir or connaissance, meaning knowledge.

In philosophy and epistemology, belief is a central notion in theories of knowledge and justification. A belief is typically evaluated by its justification, coherence, and evidential support. The formation, maintenance, and revision of beliefs are studied under topics such as belief revision, rationality, and epistemic virtue.

Beliefs have social and cultural dimensions as well as personal ones. They can be held individually or shared by communities, shaping identities, norms, practices, and institutions. Beliefs propagate through education, tradition, media, and social interaction, and may be strengthened or challenged by new evidence or argument. They can be held sincerely without direct evidence or serve as foundations for rituals, moral codes, and worldviews.

Beliefs vary in confidence and rigidity, ranging from provisional opinions to central components of a worldview. Debates about belief often address how to balance respect for diverse beliefs with demands for evidence, coherence, and practical consequences.