. The fundamental positive cognitive attitude that commonly takes a proposition as its object. Most philosophers hold that propositional beliefs can be occurrent, in which case there is conscious assent to a proposition, or nonoccurrent, in which case a person has a disposition to assent to a proposition (such as 2 + 3 = 5) even though the person is not consciously thinking of that proposition. Theologians distinguish belief that something is the case from belief in a person or ideal, as when