On 4/1/2017 12:39 AM, Evgenii Rudnyi wrote:
Am 31.03.2017 um 21:40 schrieb Brent Meeker:
On 3/31/2017 6:23 AM, Bruno Marchal wrote:
...
The problem is that the strong atheists called themselves just
atheists, and then claim they have no belief, when in fact they
believe in 0 god, unlike agnostic who say: I don't know, give the
definition and the theory.
There are also strong agnostics, i.e. those who hold it is impossible
to know anything about god(s).
Brent
I would like to note that in the paper that I have referenced
discusses a completely different question. Provided that one could
explain religion in the framework of evolutionary advantages, the
question arises whether one should also try to explain atheism in the
same framework.
In the paper there are references to empirical studies that show that
atheists have lower birthrates.
It's also true that atheists have a higher proportion of their children
survive to adulthood. These are simply correlates: in technological,
educated societies people have fewer children and have fewer of them die
young - and they are less superstitious.
Dominic Johnson tries to explain this empirical fact in evolutionary
terms.
I looked up Johnson's papers. Thanks for pointing him out. Some the
theories in "The Elephant in the Room" apply equally to current
politics, e.g. in section 3e:
/Above, we considered the role of self-deception in individuals signaling//
//to others. A separate strand of theory involves collective deception.
Some//
//accounts of costly signaling suggest that embracing beliefs that are
demonstrably//
//false (or that are seen as demonstrably false by the surrounding//
//culture of non-believers) itself may function as the critical signal of //
//commitment that facilitates within-group trust and cooperation. //
/Just reading the survey paper, I have the impression that the authors
have not sufficiently distinguished the individuals inclination to
supernatural idea and the possible biological evolution from the
cultural functions of religion and the cultural evolution of religions.
For the latter there is a nice little book by Craig A. James.
Brent
Evgenii
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