The Four Horsemen: Hitchens, Dawkins, Harris and Dennett 4/12

"In a June diary piece for his old parish the New Statesman, Christopher Hitchens explored possible monikers for the recent raft of atheist writers. He noted that as a quartet (Hitchens, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and Sam Harris) they would inevitably attract such hackneyed shorthands as the Gang of Four or the Four Musketeers. Thus, he offered an alternative, the Four Horsemen of the Counter-Apocalypse, now refined into the more succinct Four Horsemen. Shorn of its playful end the title may only further the religious association between atheism and evil, but im just relieved that Hitchens and Harris havent been conscripted into the sickly sweet Brights favoured by Dawkins and Dennett.

It now emerges that the Four Horsemen were recently gathered at Hitchenss Washington apartment, with the two-hour discussion on religion that ensued filmed for our enjoyment. Released on DVD on January 2nd, you can view it all now courtesy of Dawkinss site.

Watching the discussion i was reminded of those collaborative Marvel comic books that crop up occasionally, Spiderman and Superman: United at last!, X-Men and the Fantastic Four join forces! Far more interesting than what the four agree on is what they dont. The differences, between Hitchens and Dawkins on the Iraq war as a secular project, and betwen Harris and the others on the relationship of atheism to Eastern spiritualism, do much to prove that the new atheists are far from a homogeneous block.

The most compelling discussion occurs when Hitchens argues that hed miss religion in a hypothetical atheist world since then the debate would end; hed have no one to refine his arguments against, no one to hone his wit in opposition to, no one to face down in swathes of smoke long after the bulk of audience have retired. It proves once more that an admiration for the dialect is one feature that remains from his Trotskyist days. An incredulous Dawkins is baffled by this stance and at a later stage Hitchens, maintaining hed like to see all the churches empty, concedes its essentially contradictory nature. Which all goes to prove that a meeting of two atheists is still likely to produce three opinions."

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• atheism
• hitchens
• dawkins
• harris
• dennett
• christopher
• richard
• sam
• dan
• four
• horsemen
• atheist

[dpowens]

Every time I watch this, it delights me to hear Dennett sing, "Nothing like that!"

[scar504]

@nebula25x At the risk of appearing ostentatious you actually don't know if any those things exist. It isn't possible to prove the existence of anything outside of ones on mind.

[qigong1001]

@nebula25x My comment vanished. Heres a repost: I'm not questioning the existence of measurable things. Atheists do a good job with that. Perhaps an example will clarify: If someone is married (not religious sense), they know their spouse exists. Thats not in question. They do not know that all the things that go with marriage exist. They don't know if it will last, if it is a true partnership, etc. Hopefully so, but that is the point...its faith based still. Its not just a gamble. 

[qigong1001]

Even athiests have levels of faith. Some have faith in their government, political party, family, friends...its inescapable. Its in our nature. The religous are the extreme ends of this aspect.