The Four Horsemen: Dawkins, Dennett, Harris, Hitchens (2/12)

On the 30th of September 2007, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens sat down for a first-of-its-kind, unmoderated 2-hour discussion, convened by RDFRS and filmed by Josh Timonen.

All four authors have recently received a large amount of media attention for their writings against religion - some positive, and some negative. In this conversation the group trades stories of the public's reaction to their recent books, their unexpected successes, criticisms and common misrepresentations. They discuss the tough questions about religion that face to world today, and propose new strategies for going forward.

Credit:
The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science
http://richarddawkins.net/

If you are interested in purchasing a high-quality DVD of this presentation, you can find it here:
http://richarddawkins.net/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products...

(Note: All proceeds from the sale of this DVD will go to the Ayaan Hirsi Ali Security Trust.)

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Atheism
• Richard
• Dawkins
• Daniel
• Dennett
• Sam
• Harris
• Christopher
• Hitchens
• Religion
• Christianity
• Islam
• Four
• Horsemen

[itstonymacaroni]

lol, Richard Dawkins cracks me up. He looks like a giddy school child throughout all of this. The intellectual persiflage is overwhelmingly fun for him.

[Skepticktok]

The amount of awesome in that room would have been to much for me!

[RockyMountainPrepper]

What about the argument how a cell could not have evolved? That it would have had to start as the complete form that it is? I'm not saying "therefore Christ is King." I've just never heard a rebuttal.

[m1x0lyd1an]

What does Hitchens mean at 2:47: "There wouldn't have been a four-headed god?" What about Brahma, the four-headed god? Or Jungian quaternity? In Buddhism, three is good (the three pillars); in China, four=death (四=sì, 死=sǐ); and the five-pointed star represents the five natural elements. Religious significance can be arbitrarily applied to almost any number. Hitchens should have stuck with the idea that religious associations are non-sequitors. Numerology is an intracultural aesthetic.

[TomFynn]

@TimotheosCauvin Bullshit. There are lots of eye-witnesses and a chain of tradition for the flying spaghetti monster.

[TimotheosCauvin]

The creed is a doctrinal statement and it includes references to historical events (suffered under Pontius Pilate). It's inept to compare the Christian claim or outlook with the method of natural sciences. Look at it from the viewpoint of the science of history. When it comes to Jesus in the end it all comes up to whether you trust the eyewitnesses and the chain of tradition or not. It's not per se irrational to trust historical sources. That's where Jesus differs from the Spaghetti monster btw.

[Dethenger]

I haven't listened to Dennett much (in ascending order, I've listened most to Dennett, Harris, Dawkins, then Hitchens) but I really like him so far. Just the way he'll critique religion and at the same time so casually use words like "Golly!" and whatnot.

[seanpull]

The fact that Religion is so prevalent in our society shows the power of indoctrination. If you truly believed in something like ghosts, or unicorns, you would be derided by just about everyone, even religious people. Both gods, and ghosts have the same amount of evidence to support each other, but since the views of deities have been indoctrinated in our minds from a young age, it's perfectly acceptable to believe in a supernatural being.

[Ashiman12]

@itstonymacaroni I've noted how they all act, too. You're completely right about Dawkins; he's having a ball. Hitchens looks half-interested, half-bored, all between sips of whiskey. Harris looks like he knows he's the youngest man in the room, and is trying to earn his place at the table. Dennett looks like it wasn't his idea to be there, but is trying to contribute.

[sheyhanabeysinghe]

You can tell they have a lot of respect for each other. I mean I've never heard Christopher Hitchens, say do you mind, I disagree.

[ctriamimgons]

Hitchens shows well against even against these heads. (5:41 - 6:56).