Admittedly, I've never been a big proponent of "faith," especially blind faith. Nor do I think that any of us can use pure "reason" as a basis for living. The subject is not as simple as most would have us believe... usually one side or the other feels far too dogmatically about their own perspective to make any dialogue really possible.
Any discussion of the topic is usually a waste of time with most people because of their preconceived ideas about what it means or does not mean to "have faith." The same can be said of the use of "reason." Are the two completely at odds with one another? What is the difference between religion and spirituality? Can an atheist have a spiritual or mystical experience?
Sam Harris is one of the rare people who can discuss such matters in open forum in a well-reasoned yet accessible way that allows even "believers," if they are honest, to see that in many ways their religious beliefs are not only incompatible with rationality, but are positively detrimental. Needless to say, some of these beliefs can be wildly entertaining, but nonetheless far from reasonable as a basis for either living one's life or for the running of a society. Still, there are those who try.
In this video, Harris addresses the clash between faith and reason quite well. Though a bit long (about 60 minutes), it is best viewed in its entirety to fully understand his rationale and perhaps give you a different perspective on the differences between atheism, theism, non-theism, deism, agnosticism, and even apatheism!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
The subject is not as simple as most would have us believe... usually one side or the other feels far too dogmatically about their own perspective to make any dialogue really possible.
between *sides*. for sure.
not between individuals.
trouble is, people feel like
they have to represent their side.
so you've got to change the subject
*back* to whatever the *real* subject
might happen to be: your interlocutor
probably feels pretty strongly
about something in their own life...
something they *can't* effectively
speak of with what they take
for the technical language
of soul-matters (because the
words mean too many things
and hence mean nothing
unless wielded by experts).
get *away* from "big picture" stuff
and make it *personal*; use
*ordinary* language in ordinary ways.
seek common ground and ye shall find.
(of course i didn't watch the video.)
Post a Comment