If it is a matter of beliefs and the updating of beliefs, then what is a belief? An hypothesis of sorts, held with a degree of belief, or better, a probability which can never reach perfect certainty. Every belief is provisional since it retains the possibility of being updated, is always open to some evidence that might undermine its foundations. Beliefs, then do not map simply onto propositions, but contain within themselves beliefs about beliefs and about the pertinence of evidences. They are nested in complex ways and are pragmatic. Beliefs about states of affairs also include beliefs about the self, about the ways in which they are held, and about priorities. Again they are not static but continually under review, continually being reassessed. The system of the self is no more than a nexus of beliefs especially about the ordering of beliefs. All of these no matter how ossified they may appear remain open. The life of it is not in the beliefs themselves, which are only provisional but in the gaps, the act of their opening or narrowing.