Christopher Hitchens on Critical Thinking

Christopher Hitchens : quotes

"That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence."

"The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism. It is not a creed. Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more intensely: we stumble and get up, we are sad, confident, insecure, feel loneliness and joy and love. There is nothing more; but I want nothing more."

"Many religions now come before us with ingratiating smirks and outspread hands, like an unctuous merchant in a bazaar. They offer consolation and solidarity and uplift, competing as they do in a marketplace. But we have a right to remember how barbarically they behaved when they were strong and were making an offer that people could not refuse."

"Beware the irrational, however seductive. Shun the 'transcendent' and all who invite you to subordinate or annihilate yourself. Distrust compassion; prefer dignity for yourself and others. Don't be afraid to be thought arrogant or selfish. Picture all experts as if they were mammals. Never be a spectator of unfairness or stupidity. Seek out argument and disputation for their own sake; the grave will supply plenty of time for silence. Suspect your own motives, and all excuses. Do not live for others any more than you would expect others to live for you."

"Human decency is not derived from religion. It precedes it."

"Our belief is not a belief. Our principles are not a faith. We do not rely soley upon science and reason, because these are necessary rather than sufficient factors, but we distrust anything that contradicts science or outrages reason. We may differ on many things, but what we respect is free inquiry, openmindedness, and the pursuit of ideas for their own sake."

http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3956.Christopher_Hitchens

"Literature, not scripture, sustains the mind and --since there is no other metaphor--also the soul."

Category:

Education

Tags:

• belief
• terrorism
• Islam
• Christianity
• Judaism
• Buddhism
• Hinduism
• consciousness
• ethics
• morality
• Bible
• Koran
• spirituality
• reason
• rationality
• Jesus
• brain
• neuroscience
• Hitchens
• Dawkins
• Sam
• Harris

[3ohs0unds]

This is why it is nearly impossible to debate the religious. They believe that the turn of a phrase can be offered as proof of their beliefs.

[TurboDally]

Faith in reason 0_o???????

I've hear this kind of crap so much, "you have faith in reason, you have faith in science", for crying out loud, reason/science has had a track record of success, a track record full of discoveries...Whereas faith/superstition has had a track record of failure.

[MakeshiftEstablished]

Hitch gives me mindgasms...

[aquiace]

How can an educated person, after hearing something of profound insight, turn and say something so demonstrably ignorant? I would have been embarrassed.

Saying nothing would have been better because at least there's a chance they're pondering it. But no, stone wall stupidity again.

[jessebohler]

no hhhhhhhha....... (no hang on) :)

[MrOceanPenguin]

Every individual has reason but few of us utilize it to the fullest. If Hitchens has faith in reason then so does he. Just to a marginal extent, of course, because he's dismissing the overwhelming majority of reason that speaks against his fairy tale belief in a God derived from an ancient book.

[mroldschoolhiphop1]

faith in reason???

where do they get these things. it doesn't even make sense.

btw even if he had ''faith'' in reason, why would it be a bad thing?

[pythor2]

LOL I like the little remix at the end

[katinkers]

I'm so glad he said the bit about Bill Mahar, the guy's a pretty sleazy excuse for an intellectual and an even worse representative of atheism.

[mouthyweasel]

There is only one reasonable person sitting on that stage.

[Aprilshowersss]

@Wulfyn99 Don't be. He did good work.

[rawssremix]

@TheraminTrees It's so funny, even the guy saying it laughs. He knows how ridiculous it is.