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The Magic of Reality
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Sean Faircloth:
Attack of the Theocrats!
Although I scored mostly 2's, I felt like I should give my own answers more fully (and seriously);
This is really typical theological evasion. Though I don't really know what this means, I guess it's referring to the way believers are expected to live with 'mystery'. Julian Baggini wrote an excellent piece on this particular quote.
This isn't as stupid as it looks, surprisingly. What Haught is trying to say is that intentional explanations and physical ones can be separated. But, while this is superficially the case, it isn't true if you really wanted to analyze it. In the end, it all comes down to physics, after all. With enough psychology and neuroscience you could explain the behavior of the wife wanting a cup of tea.
Many people are mystified as to how an intelligent and apparently humane (since he’s on the other end of 3000 years worth of social progress, democracy and secular enlightenment) person like Craig can sincerely believe these vile rationalizations, and what's more hold them up as an example of a morally good act. The flaw in Craig’s thought is very simple - Divine command ethics is absurd. If you really do believe that morality stems from God, literally, then the vilest acts of genocide become good the instant God orders you to do them. Divine command ethics is nothing more than submission to the most powerful of all the bullies - not the Dear Leader, or the Führer, but the omnipotent Authority. And it's no more justifiable. When I read Craig's absurd excuse for morality, I see what Thomas Nagel meant when he said
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Dr Williams clearly hasn't thought it through. I don't know the context so I can't really comment.
This is just the classic mistake of assuming a disembodied mind is simple. I would refer Plantinga to Darwin's Dangerous Idea.
Permalink Sat, 31 Dec 2011 12:46:54 UTC | #904032