Hi Platt,
>> >> Steve: >> >> Sam Harris agrees that we don't have reasons for all of our beliefs. Our >> >> most basic beliefs like 2+2=4 are not taught by math books, we have to >> >> know that before we open the book. He uses the term intuition to describe >> >> these sorts of beliefs. >> >> Platt: >> >Yes, we intuit that a giraffe is not a rabbit. >> >> Steve: >> Also, note that we don't intuit that the bread and wine are the body and >> blood of Christ or that Mohammed flew to Heaven on a winged horse or that >> the soul enters the zygote at the moment of conception. Beliefs like these >> are based on reasoning that is either good or bad. Platt: >Nor do we intuit that mind arises from mindless atoms, or that Beethoven's >Fifth Symphony is a neurologic consequence of vibrations on the eardrum. Steve: True. Anyone who made such claims would need to provide evidence. >> Steve: >>Sam Harris >> says the reason that it is possible for such low quality intellectual >> patterns as the belief that a person will be rewarded in heaven for "sacred >> bombings" with dark-eyed virgins can exist comfortably in the mind of >> someone along with the sophisticated intellectual knowledge and skills >> required to do significant damage is because of the idea that religious >> beliefs are personal and should not be questioned. People are generally not >> challenged to test their religious beliefs against the same standards that >> they use for every other belief that they hold. I agree with him that >> thatneeds to change. We need to ask t >> he likes of Bush how it is different to say that he will appoint judges who >> know our rights come from God or our rights come from Zeus. Platt: >If rights don't come from God, where do you suggest they come from? Steve: This question presupposes that rights come from somewhere. This question also seems to imply that if I can't say where rights come from then they must come from God. If a person makes a claim that rights comes from God, he should be able to back up this claim. As for my answer, I agree with Pirsig who argues that rights are part of a social-intellectual moral code which describes how societies have come to agree that the intellectual level should be free from social control. These "rights" have evolved and continue to evolve as societies come to better understand how they can facilitate evolution towards DQ. >> Steve: >> But I do think that happiness and suffering can be studied. Platt: >...However, happiness has been studied, >notably by a couple of psychology professors who have collated data from >almost 1,000 surveys of 1.1. million people to arrive at a global estimate >of reported subjective well-being. The results are written up in an article >in Scientific American: > >http://www.ebookmall.com/ebook/66883-ebook.htm. > >Among the findings: > >.Happiness does not depend significantly on external circumstances. > >. Happiness is evenly distributed across almost all demographic >classifications of age, economic class, race and educational level. > >.Wealth is a poor predictor of happiness. Steve: It is interesting that the things that people pursue in search of happiness are not correlated with happiness. Platt: >.Religiously active people report greater happiness. A 16 nation >collaberative study of 166,000 people in 14 nations found happiness and >life satisfaction rise with the strength of religious affiliation and >frequency of attendance at worship services. > >This last finding should be of particular interest to those who find >happiness a measure of morality. Steve: It is interesting. (Of course it doesn't constitute any evidence that there is a God. DMBs quote about the diamond buried in the backyard applies.) There are definitely some really good things about religion, but there are undoubtedly some really bad things about religion too. The issue that we will have to deal with as we turn away from superstition is how can we keep the good things about religion as we discard religious dogma. Regards, Steve Moq_Discuss mailing list Listinfo, Unsubscribing etc. http://lists.moqtalk.org/listinfo.cgi/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org Archives: http://lists.moqtalk.org/pipermail/moq_discuss-moqtalk.org/ http://moq.org.uk/pipermail/moq_discuss_archive/
