A.C. Grayling: The Unconsidered Life

Philosopher and author AC Grayling on thinking critically and being a well-informed citizen of the world.

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Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• science
• critical thinking
• thinking for yourself
• think for yourself
• socrates
• Betrand Russell
• Anthony Grayling
• Against All Gods

[4micaman]

On the topic of 'thinking,' a whole host of other 'modern' logic problems arise.

[bsktool]

Sorry that's a bit blunt. I wanted to say something less provocative than "lame" but ran out of characters. Let's just say the concept of an eternal "condition" rather than an eternal "entity", as the explanation for the emergence of the universe at some point in/ just before time, seems to me to be a 2nd-best effort made necessary by the absolute imperative of not under any circumstances

conceding the possibility of the obvious alternative.

Thanks for your post GTH by the way. Appreciated.

[bsktool]

Seems improbable I know. But if that's not the case and they have an explanation for the emergence of life they're not advertising it.

I heard an interview with Mark Roberts - no it was a radio debate between him & Chris Hitchens - and he, or the host, stated that 40% of US scientists are theists. So it's not just I who hasn't heard of it.

They do have an explanation for the appearance of the universe which supposedly doesn't completely shred the cause & effect principle but it's pretty lame.

[GodTheHypothesis]

@bsktool

So you think the majority of the world's scientists who actually study the universe their whole lives are just missing something? It's perhaps far more likely that once you really study these areas in an unbiased way, you tend to see that the illusion of the hand was just a product of our agency-seeking minds. That are easily fooled and often wrong.

[bsktool]

{cont from previous}

(without making sure they do not derive from) false assumptions.

Perhaps I could have reworded that bit about following celebrity atheists. I've been wading through Christopher Hitchens' and Richard Dawkins' books and that latest one by David Lewis-Williams, with mounting frustration at their, in my view, misconceptions.

I apologise if I've given offense. I'm not pretending to be smarter than these guys. I'm just the dumb kid who can see that the emperor's starkers.

[bsktool]

Well to be honest dwb I'd have to say the only explanation I can find for people not seeing the hand of an eternal source involved in the production of the universe and the emergence of life is their not having thought it through from basic principles. And an explanation of such a talented thinker as ACG falling into that trap might be the ubiquitous willingness to stand of the shoulders of other talented people's findings, without making sure they do not derive from .....

{continued next post}

[dwbryant3]

@bsktool How do you know that he is following the celebrity atheists, instead of coming to the conclusion himself (as you say you did with Christianity)? He seems like a very thoughtful man who would catch himself if he was only following a crowd. Just because your own opinions are in line with a certain group's opinions does not mean that you have not thought critically about the question.

[bsktool]

{#3. from previous...}

One tip I can give you from my own experience:

Try giving up mind-altering substances for a while first - alcohol, pot, tobacco (maybe). I used to think the christian-wowser causality went forward; now I believe for many it's the reverse. I believe that alcohol e.g. interferes with the usual getting of wisdom that should happen after the brain's physical development is done.

Alcohol use is something else that's burgeoned since Darwin's time.

Respectfully

Anthony Cook

[bsktool]

{cont from previous...}

And I suspect there are many other converts from atheism who could say the same about their own change of heart.

It was after I decided to address this subject which I'd been putting off most of my adult life that I realised I'd been overlooking a very obvious pointer.

And if you are as clever as you give every indication of being I expect you will also see it once you stop following the growing herd of celebrity atheists and put your mind to it too.

{please see next ...}

[bsktool]

Dear Anthony

You are very outspoken considering you do not know for sure that God, or if the title offends you, the eternal creator being, exists.

You also make a presumption in implying that theists, specifically christians, have all been influenced by propaganda from the distant past.

I concluded that God is real without believing, or disbelieving, what anyone else had to say on the subject or anything that is written in the bible.

{please see next post....}