Victor Stenger - The Future of Naturalism Interview

Recorded at the Future of Naturalism conference at the Center for Inquiry. ©2007 Center for Inquiry, Inc.

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• naturalism
• atheism
• atheist
• humanist
• humanism
• philosophy
• center
• for
• inquiry
• cfi
• victor
• stenger
• tom
• flynn

[EVOxNS]

I have read the book it is amazing. Highly recommended-

[virumoz]

Watch it again, SmalltimR. Maybe you missed the destruction of the fine-tuning argument and the refutation of the anthropic principle.

Stenger is in the process of writing a book about fine tuning titled »The Fallacy of Fine-Tuning -- Why the Universe Is Not Designed for Us«. A link to the draft is in the header of his recent article at the Huffington Post (»Absence of Evidence *Is* Evidence of Absence«, 2010-08-14, emphasis mine).

[TomFynn]

@sweenith A hypothesis that's compatible with anything is a hypothesis that is completely arbitrary and as such has no explanatory power. You might explain the movement of planets by the movement of angels pushing them around, but then you have no way of predicting any constellation. Your explanation must therefore necessarily be more complex than an explanation that assumes a reality independent of what goes on in your head. Actually your explanation must be more complex than reality *itself*.

[sweenith]

@TomFynn I'm familiar with that illustration. It's about as good as Moore's "here is a hand" argument, I suppose. Neither are sound arguments against skepticism though, since (for example) it's completely compatible with my being a brain in a vat that I mistakenly believe I have just kicked a stone, or that I have a hand, when in fact a mad-scientist is deceiving me. So they beg the question. (I'm not at all a solipsist btw, nor a skeptic)

[sweenith]

@TomFynn No I'm not denying that there are claims for which physical evidence is required (in order for it to be a justified belief, or one we're rationally-bound to accept). Of course there are - most of our everyday assertions are of this sort I think.

All I'm saying is that according to your own statement, nobody need believe it unless you can provide physical evidence to demonstrative that statement.

Actually hypotheses are evaluated on their simplicity too (not just explanatory power)

[TomFynn]

@sweenith Then you have no recourse but to assume that it is all in your head. Not only is such a stance incredibly narcissistic, it is also pointless. Since when trying to explain any phenomena you have no way to judge with explanation is the correct one. See David Deutsch "The Fabric of Reality" on this.

Samuel Johnson once was asked how he would refute solipsism. He said "I refute it thus" and kicked a stone...

[sweenith]

@TomFynn I think that would still run into the same problem:

if it's true that "without demonstrable physical evidence no one is under obligation to recognize a claim about the world outside our heads as true" ,

and since that's a claim about the world (or at least about us, who-if you are a materialist- are part of the world), then, no one is under obligation to assent to that unless there's physical evidence which demonstrates it to be true (which there isn't, far as i know).

[TomFynn]

@sweenith Then let me rephrase that: Without open, demonstrable, physical evidence, no one is under any obligation to recognize a claim about the world outside our heads as true.

[sweenith]

@TomFynn I think CartesianTheist's point was this: The claim that "without recourse to physical evidence there is no truth" cannot be verified empirically. So, if it is true, then it is false.

[EVOxNS]

@zytigon Thanks for the list of authors. I have books by most of them including ' The reason driven life' by Robert M Price.Now that you insist I keep it close by to read it next. Right now I am reading "The Greatest Show On Planet" by Richard Dawkins - If you read "Moral Landscape" by Sam Harris, please let me know what you think about it. Thank you.

[zytigon]

@EVOxNS I agree that, 'God, the failed hypothesis' is excellent. Have you tried the superb ' The reason driven life' by Robert M Price who is an expert in higher criticism of the Bible. Other good authors Valerie Tarico, John W Loftus, Dan Barker, Richard Carrier, Ken Humphreys, Bart Ehrman, Keith Parsons, Ken Pulliam, Gary Greenberg. Truth-saves, Talkorigins

[drrobertoboogie97]

@CartesianTheist Jesus TYPES in random CAPS and uses TOO much exclamation and question MARKS and smileys because HE can!! B-) If you DON'T write IN random caps you're going TO hell!!?!?!?