Tuesday 8 December 2015
Have I, personally, actually changed my mind on major issues ?
I decided to put my money where my mouth is and see if I really have changed my mind or not, and more importantly, why. When I was writing this I realised that I was subconsciously selecting only the most rational, evidenced-based reasons as to why I'd changed stance on various issues. So then I forced myself to ask, "What's the least rational reason why I changed my opinion ?". Which made it into a far more interesting exercise to actually do. I don't know if it also makes for anything worth reading, but I'd encourage everyone to try and do this for themselves.
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Very nice read. Thank you. Some of your paths feel very familiar. Your views on religion were interesting as we may be very close to the same place, but got there from opposite directions. Being raised Catholic, I never had doubts until I was in my teens with my evolution to atheism happening slowly over the next decade or so. When I first started hearing from people like Dawkins it felt refreshingly blunt and unmuddled too me.
ReplyDeleteWell written, provacative enjoyable read.
ReplyDeleteMike Aben Yeah, I used to have more sympathy for Dawkins though I was never a massive fan. I feel like he's fallen of the cliff of sanity in recent years though, and if nothing else he should be kept well away form twitter. At least when he's given more than 140 characters all the offensive stuff is somewhat diluted by the thought-provoking material...
ReplyDeleteRhys Taylor I can't disagree with that.
ReplyDeleteThis is a fascinating display of intellectual honesty there.
ReplyDeleteAt least one time, about a subject where it was easier to follow the simplistic road (and I was so sure I could avoid that bias), I suddenly had the thought "How would Rhys think?" and stopped to work with available evidence.
(Which were conflicting and incomplete, and now I'm left very confused. But better confused than wrong.)
So thank you!
It's kind of the opposite to me for Dawkins, I have a hard time sympathising.
ReplyDeleteI was raised by a Catholic and an Atheist (which, AFAICT, have never fought about religion), which may be why I eventually settled with Agnosticism after some wobbling. But at some point, during my foolish teenage years, I fell for the lures of Antitheism.
So reading Dawkins later, It felt like past mistakes thrown at my face. Every. Single. Time.
Then again, Dawkins struck me as a pretty obvious delusional paranoid ("the God Delusion" is a tragically ironic title on that regard), actually. He may not be one, but it sure looks like it.
In addition to that, AFAICT (and like quite a few Antitheists - Sartre comes to mind), it was an understandable reaction to the environment he grew up in.
So I would normally feel sympathy for him, the same way I have a hard time mocking quite a few (otherwise normal) people with a lunatic idea - like one person trying to build a warp drive in their backyard, to take a bit of an extreme example.
But then I have a pretty low tolerance to hatred.
Though, to be honest, God Delusion also felt like an (unfair and biased) attack on people I hold dear. Which combines nastily with the first bias...
Elie Thorne
ReplyDelete" I suddenly had the thought "How would Rhys think?" and stopped to work with available evidence."
I think that's one of the nicest things anyone's ever said to me. :D
"In addition to that, AFAICT (and like quite a few Antitheists - Sartre comes to mind), it was an understandable reaction to the environment he grew up in."
ReplyDeleteI think that's a very important point. I have to constantly remind myself that most of the anti-religion posts in my stream comes from America, where there seems to be (at least to me) a much more black and white divide between science and religion. I.e. in America if you're religious, you're probably a Creationist - which is altogether different than simply believing in a deity.
Rhys Taylor I think there are plenty of people in the middle of those two spectrums. What must drive American (which I'm not) secularists crazy is the influence that the religious right has on politics. Every candidate on both sides of the floor has to profess a believe in God, and using religious believes to justify policy is common place.
ReplyDeleteYet, just north of the border in Canada, the mere suggestion that religion affects decisions is political suicide. I suspect this is true in a lot other places as well. The irony is that the US has one of the most secular constitutions out there, certainly more so than Canada's.
You've piqued my interest. I'll read the post as time allows.
ReplyDelete