tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post1400529818301353975..comments2024-03-24T21:25:13.059-07:00Comments on Inductivist: Elite assholesRon Guhnamehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06421460508647618774noreply@blogger.comBlogger25125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-91757647629110223402009-11-09T15:15:26.593-08:002009-11-09T15:15:26.593-08:00Hello to all, this is my 9 chief message. I base y...Hello to all, this is my 9 chief message. I base your site sooner than connector [url=http://viagras.ru/page.php?rbase=inductivist.blogspot.com]07 catalog[/url] . Content don't be irritable on newbie Dede!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-15134353499036791122009-05-15T11:55:00.000-07:002009-05-15T11:55:00.000-07:00Strictly speaking, I am an agnostic. I don't know ...Strictly speaking, I am an agnostic. I don't know there is a God and don't see how anyone could know that. On the other hand, I don't see how you can know there isn't one.Ron Guhnamehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06421460508647618774noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-80002257620846727862009-05-15T10:28:00.000-07:002009-05-15T10:28:00.000-07:00You're hiking and come to the edge of a cliff, and...<I>You're hiking and come to the edge of a cliff, and a voice inside you says jump. It is a challenge to explain this rationally.</I>And explaining the supposed existence of god or the devil, or of forces of Good and Evil, is <I>less</I> of a challenge? <I>Please.</I> You're straining at the gnat and swallowing the elephant.<br /><br /><I>Most human evil can be explained in terms of the natural but disordered drives of individuals and groups, but there's also a kind of gratuitous evil that seems to act as an external force. I can understand people ascribing this to a malevolent intelligence.</I>If human beings at war were to rip at each others' flesh as if they were common prey, that would presumably be an incidence of "gratuitous evil," yes?<br /><br />Apes in Gombe have done exactly that, in their wars. Would any rational person think that that was due to the influence of a "malevolent intelligence"? If not, then why would anyone invoke the same principle for us higher primates? At what point in the split from our last common evolutionary ancestor did souls, Satan and free will enter into it?<br /><br />It really does come down to what Jewish Atheist said: At least UFOs <I>might</I> exist. The rest is just believing in Santa Claus, whether as a real Person or as a Cosmic Force.<br /><br />To go from atheist to agnostic I could see, even though it's the opposite of the direction I've gone. But to have once been a (presumably thoughtful, not redneck idiot) atheist, who weakened into believing in fairy tales--while mocking those who don't!--is just sad. You had already figured it out, Ron; and then you went back before the buzzer rang and "changed your answer." Pascal would be proud, but who else?clemhttp://www.geoffreyfalk.com/blog/blog.aspnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-62319425429474691692009-05-14T19:26:00.000-07:002009-05-14T19:26:00.000-07:00Are you trying to say that belief in the devil is ...Are you trying to say that belief in the devil is plausible simply because it is common? Are all majority opinions automatically deserving of respect? (Hint: Liberalism is a majority opinion.)Wm Jas Tychonievichhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07446790072877463982noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-7427324168998866112009-05-14T12:20:00.000-07:002009-05-14T12:20:00.000-07:00Your point reminds me of a theme in some of Edgar ...Your point reminds me of a theme in some of Edgar Allen Poe's work that there is something in people that urges them on to do self-destructive things. You're hiking and come to the edge of a cliff, and a voice inside you says jump. It is a challenge to explain this rationally.Ron Guhnamehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06421460508647618774noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-72658940587828032132009-05-14T11:55:00.000-07:002009-05-14T11:55:00.000-07:00Growing up as a liberal protestant, I had no time ...Growing up as a liberal protestant, I had no time for the devil, and I still don't literally believe in one. But I've come to feel that it's not bad as a working hypothesis. Most human evil can be explained in terms of the natural but disordered drives of individuals and groups, but there's also a kind of gratuitous evil that <I>seems</I> to act as an external force. I can understand people ascribing this to a malevolent intelligence.<br /><br />i.p.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-61755425022774035272009-05-12T21:20:00.000-07:002009-05-12T21:20:00.000-07:00Oh please. Anybody who believes in the devil is an...<I> Oh please. Anybody who believes in the devil is an idiot, worse than people who believe in UFOs. (At least UFOs are possible.) </I>Oh please. Most people's conception is allegorical, something about the forces of Good and Evil. There's every reason to believe, given the human experience, that such representations might hint at an underlying reality. Certainly the effect on people intellectually ill-equipped to be, say, jewish atheists of believing them seems vastly superior to alternatives believing the dopey precepts of communism. As a practical matter, isn't that what counts? Remember, by their fruits ye shall know them.silverhttp://accidentaldissent.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-6443741248410731582009-05-12T20:33:00.000-07:002009-05-12T20:33:00.000-07:00What kind of people pay good money to survey that ...What kind of people pay good money to survey that kind of question?<br /><br />That said, I suppose it just might be indicative of a general retreat to a fantasy world.Stephennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-42438540596209245632009-05-12T19:50:00.000-07:002009-05-12T19:50:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-44018495440162176542009-05-12T19:49:00.000-07:002009-05-12T19:49:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-17940537181911913212009-05-12T19:40:00.000-07:002009-05-12T19:40:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-38701158712826376572009-05-12T19:39:00.001-07:002009-05-12T19:39:00.001-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-10044947541601408682009-05-12T19:39:00.000-07:002009-05-12T19:39:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-63784296812569402042009-05-12T19:38:00.000-07:002009-05-12T19:38:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-37346370555755285582009-05-12T19:31:00.000-07:002009-05-12T19:31:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-54490876741431800872009-05-12T17:45:00.000-07:002009-05-12T17:45:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-89935337245068344782009-05-12T17:40:00.000-07:002009-05-12T17:40:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-58373437115526657752009-05-12T17:39:00.000-07:002009-05-12T17:39:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-63942129774881396112009-05-12T17:37:00.000-07:002009-05-12T17:37:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-41547617169738245472009-05-12T17:34:00.000-07:002009-05-12T17:34:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-32314600426261353482009-05-12T17:33:00.000-07:002009-05-12T17:33:00.000-07:00This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-34006278932983335022009-05-12T15:48:00.000-07:002009-05-12T15:48:00.000-07:00So is Anderson Cooper of CNN--not that there's any...So is Anderson Cooper of CNN--not that there's anything wrong with that--except that neither of them is much of a newsman.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-30567812452440938292009-05-12T15:46:00.000-07:002009-05-12T15:46:00.000-07:00Shep is gay--no joke.Shep is gay--no joke.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-89170119418976545732009-05-12T14:44:00.000-07:002009-05-12T14:44:00.000-07:00That's a pretty low standard for 'elitism' when no...That's a pretty low standard for 'elitism' when not believing in Santa, er, Satan is all it takes to be 'elite'.Jasonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15164612896234645132noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26188478.post-68761401386233549862009-05-12T14:08:00.000-07:002009-05-12T14:08:00.000-07:00Oh please. Anybody who believes in the devil is a...Oh please. Anybody who believes in the devil is an idiot, worse than people who believe in UFOs. (At least UFOs are possible.) <br /><br />The media constantly coddles religious believers, pretending that they are somehow more reasonable than UFOlogists or astrologers. There's a clear pro-religious bias in the media.<br /><br />I am not joking.Jewish Atheisthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04616617537150446818noreply@blogger.com