SNIP This is the 10th in a series of interviews about religion that I [Gary Gutting] am conducting for The Stone. The interviewee for this installment is Keith DeRose, a professor of philosophy at Yale University and the author of “The Case for Contextualism: Knowledge, Skepticism, and Context.”
Gary Gutting: You’ve made the following statement: “Since atheists’ only real hope of knowing that God doesn’t exist would be through some kind of philosophical argument (perhaps some argument from evil), their knowing that God doesn’t exist doesn’t seem to me a very serious possibility.”
I think many atheists would object that it’s wrong to require them to have an argument showing that God doesn’t exist. They’d claim their atheism is justified simply because there are no good arguments in favor of theism. After all, it’s theists who are making an extraordinary claim. Isn’t the lack of evidence for the claim that God exists sufficient grounds for denying it? [...]
SNIP Sam Harris is a neuroscientist and prominent “new atheist,” who along with others like Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett and Christopher Hitchens helped put criticism of religion at the forefront of public debate in recent years. In two previous books, “The End of Faith” and “Letter to a Christian Nation,” Harris argued that theistic religion has no place in a world of science. In his latest book, “Waking Up,” his thought takes a new direction. While still rejecting theism, Harris nonetheless makes a case for the value of “spirituality,” which he bases on his experiences in meditation. I [Gary Gutting] interviewed him recently about the book and some of the arguments he makes in it....
In any case while it's not compulsory to do so, feel free to say "Hi I'm a new member." either here in this thread or this sub-forum in General.
Doing so will be a great icebreaker between new members and old alike.
(TBA, I will add a list of useful things for new members to look at or know how to get to here in the future.
While current members might think this a bit late, I'm in the process of streamlining new members to the forum and this is one potential stop.)
"A second brain in the heart is now much more than a hypothesis. Prominent medical expert like Doctor Maurice Renard and others discovered that that recipients of heart transplants are inheriting donors' memories and consequently report huge changes in their tastes, their personality, and, most extraordinarily, in their emotional memories. Today new science is testing the theory that the heart is involved in our feelings. So what have they discovered so far?"
"The limits of my language are the limits of my mind. All I know is what I have words for."
Is this quote of Wittgenstein's really plausible?
What implications does this statement have for awareness in animals that lack language? If they lack words, how can they know anything? (My dog, now sadly deceased, certainly seemed to know where to find her food bowl.)
Does it imply that the many kinds of supposedly ineffable experience and knowing are impossible? These range from mystical experiences, through aesthetic experiences, to knowing what the color red looks like and what love or fear feel like.
(Given the richness and texture of my experience, I wonder how much of it I could ever put into words.)
"I don't think anyone realizes how quickly artificial intelligence is advancing. Particularly if involved in recursive self-improvement ... and its utility function is something that's detrimental to humanity, then it will have a very bad effect," Musk, speaking at Vanity Fair's New Establishment Summit in San Francisco, said....
"...The Antikythera wreck was first discovered in 1900 by sponge divers who were blown off course by a storm. They subsequently recovered a spectacular haul of ancient treasure including bronze and marble statues, jewellery, furniture, luxury glassware, and the surprisingly complex Antikythera Mechanism. But they were forced to end their mission at the 55-meter-deep site after one diver died of the bends and two were paralyzed. Ever since, archaeologists have wondered if more treasure remains buried beneath the sea bed.
Now a team of international archaeologists including Brendan Foley of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution and Theotokis Theodoulou of the Hellenic Ephorate of Underwater Antiquities have returned to the treacherous site using state-of-the-art technology...." WOODS HOLE OCEANOGRAPHIC INSTITUTION
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