Dawkins' hubristic contempt for Religious faith is amusing. Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection and Adaptation stands and has more "empirical evidence" behind it---(Science, much like Religion, is just another value system--it has its liturgy, priests and ethos--it attempts to explain the world) Is it the last word? Who knows? But to entirely debase believers, as a Scientist, no less, is crass. Sir Isaac Newton, Decartes, Pascal and Leibniz---Men who Darwin respected and scientists who had faith. As if Dawkins could sneer at Newton or Pascal? I say this as a non-believer. Science itself requires faith. it's just another fideism, based on the belief that the human mind can etch out cosmic laws through empirical research, equations or hypotheses proven post-festum. Here I would like to pause and mention David Hume's argument against causal connections and progress in time in his A Treatise of Human Nature....Much of the pulp Dawkins writes is Scientific Gospel..Science has brought us closer to mapping the Atomic Nucleus, and with the very same knowledge, Nuclear Weaponry. Does Dawkins really believe in Progress through human intellect via science? Had he met or ever read Oppenheimer, Dirac or Wolfgang Pauli? I doubt it...He cherry picks and Propagandizes like a Vatican Official for his cause. Nothing wrong with that.......The only true Atheism is silence. For you admit a belief in Transcendence in utilizing shared signs and expecting to be understood. That's a Leap of Faith which ultimately leads to Deism. For who or what is the hidden third that endorses agreement? Even through the multiplicity of languages and their mutability and mortality, one ascribes a Deus Absconditus as the invisible third.
Hume also smashed the Intelligent Design theory in his Dialogues Against Natural Religion....He also intimated that science itself was a religion of man's ratio. Humans ascending the Cosmic Throne. Scientists use Hume carefully. Kant was so distraught over the skepticism in Hume's Treatise he was compelled to write his Critique of Pure Reason. These events occurred in the late 18th early 19th century. My how far Dawkins has progressed!
8 comments:
hi Ana,
Dawkins isn't so bad. Sounds a little like hubristic contempt on your part to sneer at his beliefs. Which is perhaps what he is reacting to. He is in a minority, not a minority of atheism but a minority of voices that are often silenced and villified by 'true believers.' Don't further demonize him, it's unwarranted. Sure he's flawed, his science is occasionally lacking in concrete proof and he speaks in abstractions. However you are missing the value he has. It is not in his own theories or his dismissal of religions. It is in his voice of challenging entrenched dogma. Isn't it impossible to debase faith. The very meaning of faith lies in the inabiltiy to be rationalized away. And that which is innate yet has no need for explanation, in turn has no requirement of validation.
You cannot defile what people 'just know'. However if it is fear that holds back further inquiry and discovery - any voice that raises questions could possibly unseat institutionalized devotion and give rise to those who would seek and not follow.
See you soon - God.
He challenges an entrenched dogma with another dogma--Rationalism. Which is just another fideism. I do not sneer at his beliefs, I sneer at his methods and his self assessed merit--As if he's preaching the new true doctrine---And debunking something silly and worth nothing. It shows a complete lack of comprehending human history and humanity itself. Nobody has challenged the post festum proofs of Science--Instead they rely on pragmatic sanctions--Much like faith has in the past. Causality is a crap shoot-
The Holy Ghost
So he's just as much a doctrinaire as the people he labels as fools are?
Applauding further inquiry and discovery in polemics and scoffery?
Rationality is a Faith. The idea humans have the ability to ascend the cosmic throne and be as gods.
I don't believe in God or Gods. Nor do I ascribe to any religious doctrine. Faith is "innate"...But faith is Rationality or Religion or any other value system is learned. For science to sneer at religion is like shit reproaching vomit for its stench. Both have their errors, ethical missteps--i.e. human shortcomings--he seems to miss this point. He piles on by assuming Science is more "progressive" than Religion intellectually and scientifically-Which is just another leap of faith. Again, he makes Techne and Pragmatism an Eschatological movement beyond an ignorant state...A religious move--Revealed truth and all that--enlightenment--all religious tropes..I think what is sneered at is Dawkins' myopic disregard of his own fideism in his assault of other brands of fideism...He, like Narcissus, can't see his own face in drowning in his reflections--All he wants are Echoes.
He has never been silenced. He writes books, appears on TV. He's all over the place.
And a criticism of his methods and the weaknesses of his ideology is further inquiry and discovery.
The Son
Kid,
He is all over the place, and he has not been silenced. 'God(above)' said that he was part of a minority that was often silenced, not always and not him.
To reiterate - the point was that he is a rare voice with a view different from the status quo. A novelty in that regard.
You completely missed the point of "Inquiry and Discovery." The inquiry and discovery should be in questioning what you yourself know/believe. Not what you are told, not what Dawkins or anyone else professes.
All this time spent lamenting what you would sneer at - just another form of following.
I hope you like the tropics.
Beelzebub
The Kid was Prince's name in Graffiti Bridge.
and I do question everything,
de omnibus dubitandum
But Jesus lives in my closet and a bright nimbus shines through the slits of the doors when he wants to talk.
He's pretty neat, for an entity living in my closet. He says a human being is a "Soulfill" like a little mountain of buried trash is a "Landfill". Then he laughs.
He's funny.
Dawkins demonizes..........He throws up strawmen...You don't fight religious folk with fire--They love Auto-Da-Fe's(can't do the accent).
My closet is getting too crowded and Jesus is making fun of my clothes.
Tropics aren't always sad. Some turns are good.
Son of Jacob,
The coat of many colors is crowding Jesus in the closet. (And is there really a need for a Miami vice outfit.)
The Prince of Darkness alluded to your retirement plans in the tropics, not your propensity to react rather than cause, turn turn turn.
The fight is not with religous folks, nor with Dawkins.
Questioning everything and everyone is external and unproductive.
You may turn towards the sun, but when you do, it is wise to close your eyes and look within if you wish to see anything.
Send me a postcard from the Tropics.
Hashem
I agree. Questioning everything would lead, ultimately, to inertia. I used to look into the sun as a child because I thought it'd make my eyes brighter. It worked.
(throwing up dust as Miami Vice attire is thrown into Goodwill Bin)
Post a Comment