tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716347331682132223.post3002925817630033956..comments2023-10-20T02:08:39.524-07:00Comments on Atheism: Proving The Negative: We Are Wired to Resist the Truth About Pointless SufferingMatt McCormickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17071078570021986664noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716347331682132223.post-63143435853476276622007-08-17T12:33:00.000-07:002007-08-17T12:33:00.000-07:00A bit of a marginal comment:The "everything happen...A bit of a marginal comment:<BR/><BR/>The "everything happens for a reason" line is surprisingly prevalent. I've been waiting for a while now to hear it again and derisively reply: <BR/><BR/>"Yes, of course. (I'm pretty confident in the principle of sufficient reason, broadly construed.) But it's <I>not </I> true that everything happens for a <I>good</I> reason." <BR/><BR/>And, of course, the latter is what they mean to say.Josh Mayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13511130370992616940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716347331682132223.post-31421513459469374102007-06-16T19:52:00.000-07:002007-06-16T19:52:00.000-07:00I think that the illusion does do us more harm. L...I think that the illusion does do us more harm. Look at how much suffering one can inflict when it is percieved that there is a reason for inflicting that suffering. God's will doesn't stop at natural disasters. It extends to laughing soldiers throwing cigarette butts at a writhing Iraqi teenagers and ecstatic terrorists running into the midst of a Saturday fruit market. It is some sort of sick fatalism to suppose there is an overarching meaning in suffering. <BR/>If there's a purpose to suffering, there's a purpose to those who inflict it; it is not a stretch of the imagination to think that most of them believe they are doing God's work. Thinking that there is a cosmic purpose to suffering is a stupefying, numbing cruelty that denies compassion and makes it alot easier to perform horrendous actions and disregard life in general.wesleyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00959844779898304470noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716347331682132223.post-28547780007125044922007-06-13T10:42:00.000-07:002007-06-13T10:42:00.000-07:00I'm sympathetic to Steve's point. We often fabric...I'm sympathetic to Steve's point. We often fabricate order and meaning out of a world that doesn't have any. And we need to keep that fact about our constitutions clearly in mind. But I'm not as optimistic about the existentialism point that he has made here before: the fact that we create meaning in a world that is absurd itself gives meaning to our struggle. First, I don't think most people will see it that way. Camus's and Sartre's agendas along these lines just never caught on. Ultimately, there's no avoiding the absurdity of building our little sand castles. There's a pretty clear survival value to this psychological function of construing suffering as less bad when it's meaningful or for a good cause. Take that away, and we're just more miserable. The question is, does the illusion ultimately do us more harm? Steve thinks yes, I'm not sure how to calculate that one. MMMatt McCormickhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17071078570021986664noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716347331682132223.post-6695594926096704762007-06-12T18:54:00.000-07:002007-06-12T18:54:00.000-07:00I think it's better for us to view this "being up ...I think it's better for us to view this "being up against powerful psychological tendencies" as really the proper starting point for a positive atheist existential ethics/philosophy.<BR/><BR/>It's long been recognized that human beings are such that it's in our nature to desire to create order out of chaos.<BR/><BR/>The real question is then: what is the best way (most truthful, most successful way) of realizing our order-creating nature in the world?<BR/><BR/>Thus, we atheists need to press home the realities of the human condition: that although we live in an absurd world where there is no absolute presence of god to provide meaning to random events, those events are still meaningful from a human perspective: we hate disorder and strive to control it.<BR/><BR/>On the atheist view then, we can be motivated in a powerful way by the meaning of our own existence.<BR/><BR/>The god thesis is simply unecessary, on the wrong track, and dangerous, for all the obvious reasons.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8716347331682132223.post-28285993079776036522007-06-12T00:15:00.000-07:002007-06-12T00:15:00.000-07:00Interesting. When I first read Thomas Paine's 'Age...Interesting. When I first read Thomas Paine's 'Age of Reason' I not only felt exitement at new knowledge, but a temporary sickness due to my childhood Christian indoctrination. Those same feelings occured while reading Smith's 'The Case Against God'. Due to my new scientific and philosophical outlook, I no longer have those feelings when engaged in those 'specific' kinds of thoughts. I also feel less pain when my girfried scratches my back only when 'in bed'. These are my existential explanations.Jonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02877962468047811190noreply@blogger.com