silverstream314
Dan Dennett talks about how religions in many cases offers an “goldenplated excuse to stop thinking” and that people have got to stop playing the “faith card” in debates. I think he puts it brilliantly.
The full video is available at google video:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5640093862168820605&ei=yCP4SNmKOIvSjgKw5dW9CQ
Source
You haven't met many atheists, have you? That's practically what everyone says.
Atheism makes people feel smarter ^-^
Looks like you've misinterpreted Dr. Dennett here. The whole point is that there are no strong arguments for religion.It may not have come across adequately in this discussion but it does in his books. If you're gonna argue faith then there is nothing to argue as faith is per definition accepting without evidence. This is why Dennett makes it clear that the faith card is useless in a discussion. He's not saying you're stupid for having faith, just that it serves no purpose in a discussion.
Right, we're on the same page then.
I just never had any. I was born into a Christian family, went through Sunday school, church etc. But it never caught on. I remember that even from an early age I didn't believe much of it. It's not that I had a bad experience ether, I had good friends in the church and we had a good time there but at the end of the day I just lacked faith.
I prefer it that way, it led me to become more interested in science and I ended up as a chemical engineer!
I doubt it. A scientific education has only strengthened my belief in that faith is completely useless. If I can't see it or measure it I see no point in assuming that it exists. The idea that some bronze age people had a better understanding of the cosmos than we do today strikes me as, frankly, ridiculous.
Just my two cents.
Mr. Dennett is correct in the sense that faith should progress to understanding and when you understand something you should be able to apply what you understand to problems with concrete results. This is why I know there is God because of the concrete results.
why do you people have to be part of any kind of religion??? why don't you start for believing in yourself? that would be interesting
What people like Francis Collins. The great scientist or Paul Davies the great astronomer. The arrogance of this man is astonishing. But again we are dealing here with fanatics. Who have a fetish about religion. Deluded people who believe they have the monopoly on truth and reason. And no one is allowed to have any other beliefs or opinions.
My only thing is to keep it to yourself. Just because your religious doesn't mean anybody else should have to follow YOUR set of rules.
Religion is the fastest path to Alzheimer's, IOW.
Perhaps Dan Dennett would like to give us his opinions on football next, or feminism, or something else on which he is an amateur dabbler. For goodness, sake, can we please raise the level of debate.
Religion also offers the basis of fear which robs its followers of the option to consider other ideas. Fear of eternal separation from gods keeps religious followers from considering that religion might only be traditional. Many of our belief systems are traditions of ignorance. Religion is only the most obvious one.
Honestly what apile of BS
Life in the US was a lot more civilized back when people didn't discuss their religious beliefs in public.
I have faith because I am thinking. I have been given freewill and intellect and I chose freely to have faith in Jesus because I understood why He had to be here and why God made Him come here. As far as I know, understanding and then finally making a choice requires a lot of thinking, especially choosing to Keep My Faith. Hence, for me, not only am I thinking, I am continuously thinking.
Stop believe in god … pls the world is logic , everything is logic.
religions only makes war and story's what are not true.
Well said by Dennett. Religion is shallow and does not require thinking, but only faith to believe pre-packaged ideology. Religion preaches submission and obedience, and the worst is, religion convinces believers they should not trust their own minds. In this regard people that do not think are easier to manipulate and be useful tools to accomplish political and social objectives.
LUCILLE SAYS YOU ARE WRONG…… lmfao
One wonders why Dan is warning about 'religion,' then, if 'not half' of believers are the unthinking types that he describes. If 'not half' are like this, then perhaps it is not religion that is the problem that he thinks he sees.
Are there not atheists who do not think? I have had atheists argue that words do not have different meanings in different contexts, and that words do. I have had them deny that disease caused the majority of the Native American deaths after 1492, and when directed to authorities that showed them wrong, they stop arguing.
And, of course, there's now Craig Hicks, the 'gun-toting atheist,' who murdered three Muslims over parking at their apartment complex. He didn't do much thinking.
So I'm afraid that Dan isn't thinking very well here himself.
Quite a good discussion, free thinking is a gift, surrendered mind can't have it.
"God did it", "god said it", "god means this", "god told me", etc. are the most ridiculous excuses ever created. Dennet is right on how religion offers an excuse to stop thinking by just saying "god did it". Completely delusional and irrational to say these things.
the FACT of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. there are over 6000 historical documents that show HIS life, death and resurrection from eye witnesses I KNOW Jesus had over 400 prophecies that he would come, what would happen, and he fulfilled them ALL that was a 1 in trillion chance THOUSANDS were PUT to death – REASERCH ROMAN HISTORY – and the did NOT have to die if they denied Christ BUT there were THERE they SAW what he did, the healings the feedings the miracles some saw him after he was killed by the romans – LOOK UP HISTORY AND the TRUTH – or STAY IGNORANT – YOUR choice!! http://www.facingthechallenge.org/josephus.php Jesus did miracles NOT only mentioned in the Bible, but Roman history and Jewish Hebrew historians that did not follow nor like Jesus. – NO ONE came and Changed the world as HE did – So I will go with what HE said, (if that's ok with you). It has NOTHING to do how I was raised it is what I researched after studding Buddhism, where sir gattama shahidra said there is NOT god, yet they made him into one. Hinduism has over 450 mil. gods and looking at them, like god bramaden he masturbates to create the clouds that when it rains fertilizes the earth. – well I KNOW that is not true, and learned – all those gods DID NOT come to earth and there is NO historical evidence to show that YET JESUS DID!!! – and UNLIKE Buddha – or sir guattama Jesus said he IS God. – there are over 6000 historical documents that show HIS life, death and resurrection from eye witnesses – SO if my belief seems crazy to you, I did MY Historical studies, and now live with a relationship that you will never know, that has helped me help others. AS Christians have given and give MORE to Charities than ANYONE ELSE! – so Christianity helps others – yet you atheists berate us……..sad. and its interesting how Christ also said, John 15:18 "If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you.…so I see he predicted you TOO Proverbs 29:27 The righteous detest the dishonest; the wicked detest the upright. My life is BETTER I GIVE MORE to others and help more than I did and YOU Atheists are MAD art that? – sad…SO SAD
I used to be an atheist, and it is rather shocking how some years of first class christian philosophy make people like this guy sound incredibly superficial and stupid.
Perhaps the most hypocritical individual caught on video in our time.
Here the philosophy professor who teaches logic commits a numerous logical fallacies. Can you find them? Mis-defining "faith" as belief without evidence. The US Marines have a motto "Semper Fidelis" always faithful. Do we mean that the US Marines always choose their beliefs about a situation on the ground or a tactical engagement by ignoring the evidence and just choosing their own belief about the particular situation?
Faith was has been described as trusting an account even though you don't have all the facts. Much the same way we trust that every skyscraper we walk into has been engineered properly and won't pancake on us once we hit the 90th floor. Much the way we fly in airplanes without inspecting the structural xrays of the wings for micro-tears.
When he engages in discussions with other philosophers at meeting of the type Dennett engages unprofessionally. He asked here to sit down and have a calm discussion but snubs the Head of the American Philosophical Association Alvin Plantinga in a district meeting in 2009.
Here is an account from someone in attendance who respected Dennett as a professional philosopher until this encounter (the debate was supposed to engage Plantinga's hypothesis that naturalism destroys epistemic foundations including the belief in Naturalism):
Sure, the intelligent theist can keep going on believing. He calls theistic belief a fairy tale. Now he’s getting explicitly insulting. He thinks theistic belief can corrupt our common epistemological fabric and involve theism into politics. He shows a slide mocking the eschatological views of Christians. He calls theism an unrespectable position, and compares it to astrology. He says it is irrational and doesn’t deserve respect. He gets laughs. He doesn’t look good to the theists. Once he got nasty, a cold pall covered the room. He compares theism to holocaust deniers and things have gone off the rails. This is outrageous. All Plantinga must do to beat Dennett now is to reply with grace. For Plantingian dry wit, this is easy.
3:32 pm – “Is Plantinga’s theism in any better position than these other fantasies?” He’s going to create a Plantinga-guided natural selection. It is hard to explain, but the argument basically mocks Plantinga. I am incensed. The response is a long string of insults, and little more. This is pathetic. I had more faith in Dennett. He is just making the Flying Spaghetti Monster argument and getting laughs from real, intolerant jerks.
So we see how Dennett views "sitting down having a calm discussion."
He thinks the Flying Spaghetti monster is a necessary being. Even though he was familiar with Plantinga's argument and premises, Dennett refuses to engage or provide any evidence to counteract them.
Hypocrisy, personal invective, ad hominem attacks, strawman representations, red herrings, and genetic fallacies make up a small portion of Dennett's propagandistic arsenal.
Atheist need a better poster boy that the likes of Dennett (shoot he even makes Dawkins look intelligent here).
The so-called four horsemen are a disgrace to reason and philosophy. They represent the worst didactic uninformed fundamentalism in our culture today.
J.L. Mackey, Anthony Flew, JH Sobel, Quinten Smith, or Kai Neilsen are atheist who are intelligent, engage the theistic arguments strongly and professionally, and avoid the propagandistic methodologies evident in this and other videos on Dennett.
So wait a minute, a person when believing in something (for example a religion) personally is automatically required to explain and ration it to others? WTF? Like seriously, let people believe what they want to believe. You can't just go and say: "My opinion in my personal view of the world is true, yours is false." As long as a person follows the laws of a society he might as well believe in a spaghetti monster flying through the space controlling the universe.
As herp derp as Moyers occasionally is here, he still did a good job with the interview.
This one is a real gem.
This guy thinks he's a better thinker than guys like Augustine, Origen , or Aquuinas.
There is no difference between faith and fantasy.
Yes he is correct government controlled religion and religion controlled government does offer an excuse to stop thinking but so does government, schools and ESPECIALLY colleges and universities. Perfect system of indoctrination. ANSWER……….if you love God find Christ through reading the bible ALONE and doing this will………..Jesus never came to control the world but to save it.
What is the moral course of action to take?? Men are self serving and corrupt and therefore there are NONE who can answer that question……….That's the problem you think men are GOOD. Everyone is self serving.
Excellent clip! 😀
Dan good job.. That "Lucille " bit was really strong. It's putting the shoe on the other foot. If you say that to a Christian , it should hit home that it's exactly what they do with their fake God
You know when your saiying that something is impossible by using logic proof and and the person pulls that move and say "it's possible because god can do anything" and you're just like "i hate religion and everything it stands for"
Well said sir.
Can somebody tell me where to find the rest of this please?
Science offers an excuse to stop feeling.
I'm sick of people pretending they know what I'm thinking. ;P
The church used to burn people at the stake, now when they knock on our doors we can turn the garden hose on them. This is progress.
You cannot reason with a religious person. Do you not know that the they're always right? What you can do is make laws to keep it out of government. As they did when founding the U.S. . Over the years christain politicians keep creeping it more and more into government. Now muslims are trying to do the same. The attitude of any religion is worse than racism. They're group is right and all others are wrong.
"You can't have a dialogue…" Isn't that what these two gentlemen are doing?
I like this guy.
Absolutely right 👍🏻
Critical thinking burns calories. Most people aren't in to deep thought.
religion promotes pedophiles
Yes, its OK to stop thinking — iff you know that you are stopping thought.
Santa Claus is an atheist
To the evolutionist , humans are just a highly evolved virus. So you can't change their minds about this because they have great FAITH in their theory!!!
Everyone has faith in something or someone! Even a suicidal person has faith that suicide would be better than to go on living. Those who say they have faith in nothing, reveal that they have faith in NOTHING!
Excellent Speaker! Critical Thinking is so necessary in this BRAINWASHED World we live in!
"what does god want, cos this is a weird way to achieve it, if god is
perfect he should be happy in his own company, what does he need humans
for, or, if he does need humans for some obscure reason, why not make us
sycophantic god-worshipping robots at the outset?"