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re: Sam Harris- The Left is irredeemable at this point
Posted on 3/10/17 at 12:37 am to OMLandshark
Posted on 3/10/17 at 12:37 am to OMLandshark
quote:
Really, I'd Sam Harris is one of the greatest living philosophers. He's incredible at it. He's debatably the greatest living philosopher, which has made him many enemies.
You might need to read a bit more if you think he is one of the greatest living philosophers.
The arguments Harris puts forth in his books are palatable to the dogmatic hoi polloi of the irreligious community, but they can be quite sloppy at times.
In his book Letter to a Christian Nation, for example, Harris starts off with this statement on page 8.
quote:
Questions of morality are questions about happiness and suffering. This is why you and I do not have moral obligations toward rocks. To the degree that our actions can affect the experience of other creatures positively or negatively, questions of morality apply.
This statement is problematic chiefly in that the book lacks the argumentation needed to defend it. Indeed, one would be lucky to find any structured argument defending this systematic moral definition in the book. He merely assumes it and builds a large multitude of his arguments off of it.
Another example is his rather vacuous rendition of the cosmological argument on page 72.
quote:
The argument runs more or less like this: everything that exists has a cause; space and time exist; space and time must, therefore, have been caused by something that stands outside of space and time; and the only thing that transcends space and time; and yet retains the power to create, is God.
One would think that the greatest philosopher alive would at least know that "everything that exists has a cause" is not a premise of the cosmological argument. The premise he is trying to come up with is "whatever begins to exist has a cause", which is quite different. Of course Harris builds off this caricature with his critique of the argument.
quote:
As many critics of religion have pointed out, the notion of a creator poses an immediate problem of an infinite regress. If God created the universe, what created God? To say that God, by definition, is uncreated simply begs the question. Any being capable of creating a complex world promises to be very complex himself. As the biologist Richard Dawkins has observed repeatedly, the only natural process we know of that could produce a being capable of designing things is evolution.
Now this critique is a good one if anyone actually argues in favor of the cosmological argument that Harris put forth. Seeing, however, that Harris' caricature is the definition of a straw man, the critique can be easily disregarded in that it attacks an argument that is not utilized by theists.
Regarding his other statement pertaining to the complexity of God, Harris once again fails to provide any argumentation for the assertion. He merely assumes it to be the case. One would think that the greatest living philosopher would be more thorough in his argumentation.
0
Posted on 3/10/17 at 1:57 am to OMLandshark
He's right
Posted on 3/10/17 at 2:42 am to RogerTheShrubber
The term, "racism," was conjured up around 1900 by Leon Trotsky as a wrench in his tool box to spread communism over the entire face of the earth. Therefore, the term, in and of itself, don't mean shite to me. If anyone uses it to describe me, then it's like they haven't described me at all.
Posted on 3/10/17 at 5:26 am to OMLandshark
Yeah. I watched it. Strawman.
Maybe 1 in a thousand or 1 in 10,000 have become violent Over Trumps victory.
Maybe 1 in a thousand or 1 in 10,000 have become violent Over Trumps victory.
Posted on 3/10/17 at 5:57 am to PrimeTime Money
quote:You inadvertently (?) planted the first seed of the Leftista hijacking of any cogent discussion on the topic raised by this specific video. Building on it, each page devolved into an argument over God, religion, Christians, atheists that completely abandons Harris' withering critique of the Left and his kill-shot point that locking arms with Islamists will be the ironic death of the Left and the West, should they somehow prevail. Could we just go back to that still-born conversation the Leftistas didn't want us to have?
Sam is an atheist...
Posted on 3/10/17 at 6:00 am to a want
quote:
Maybe 1 in a thousand
Do you find that to be an acceptable number?
Posted on 3/10/17 at 6:27 am to DisplacedBuckeye
No, but I don't think 1 out of a thousand defines an entire group.
Posted on 3/10/17 at 7:19 am to a want
quote:
No, but I don't think 1 out of a thousand defines an entire group.
Cool, but his comments weren't limited to that one out of a thousand.
Posted on 3/10/17 at 7:23 am to OMLandshark
quote:
If he writes 3 concise books on it, at least give him credit for being on a 10th grade level.
ha. and FTR, i was pointing out a logical flaw in the statement, not making a substantive statement about Harris. Just because someone writes three books on a subject doesn't mean he or she is an expert. And they could've been kindergarten-level books (i know they weren't, but the statement didn't specify). If we're going to put all our faith in reason, then we might wanna reason.
This post was edited on 3/11/17 at 11:02 am
Posted on 3/10/17 at 7:30 am to OMLandshark
quote:
and a Nazi.
they love throwing that word around which they are too stupid to realize it is their ideology and actions that are in goose step harmony with the Nazi party...
Posted on 3/10/17 at 2:17 pm to ShenandoahCanine
quote:
The term, "racism," was conjured up around 1900 by Leon Trotsky as a wrench in his tool box to spread communism over the entire face of the earth. Therefore, the term, in and of itself, don't mean shite to me. If anyone uses it to describe me, then it's like they haven't described me at all.
Maybe as an official term, but if you don't think racism actually exists, you're a fool. Go over to Asia sometime and see it for yourself.
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