REC-
Well said!
Though more than a few of us may like to play with alternatives to this
core... like "what if the world doesn't actually exist?" or "maybe
(some) other people *aren't* like me (e.g. evil people)" or
"communication might be an illusion?".
What you say about the core "being all there is" is quite apt, and is
roughly what I was saying about exclusivity in clubs...
And yes, the problem of subhumanizing or demonizing the "faithless"...
SAS
On Mon, Sep 17, 2012 at 12:41 PM, ERIC P. CHARLES <[email protected]
<mailto:[email protected]>> wrote:
Sarbajit,
Trying to make things succinct, I think the argument Nick is
trying to make goes something like this:
To act a certain way in a certain situation /is /to "have a
belief." Thus, our lives are full of beliefs, which are variously
consistent or inconsistent depending on how you examine our lives.
When people claim to lack deeply held beliefs, either 1) they
don't know what they believe (i.e., lack meta-awareness), or 2)
they just don't want to talk about their beliefs (i.e., are
lying). Thus, in general, the claim to not be philosophical
indicates a rigidity of belief, rather than a lack of belief.
Nick's beliefs include (i.e., Nick acts /as if/ the following
things were true): The world can be improved. Thinking is
virtuous. Things have causes.
His eventual question seemed to be: Do these beliefs make me
religious, in some general sense?
I think there is a core of beliefs which we all share: the world
exists, other people are beings like myself, language can be used for
communication. Everyone acts as if these things are true, and once
you've accepted these beliefs, there are a whole lot of derivative
beliefs that you can work out: there exist material effects which
have material causes, the material life and health of people can be
better or worse depending on how they pursue it, acquired experience
with the material world is useful and worth pondering, and so on.
Such is the life of a material girl living in a material world.
I think that core of beliefs only becomes religious if you believe
that the core of beliefs and those derivable from it comprise
everything that is real. Now you've added an additional belief to
core, that the core is all there is. This appears to be a tenable
religion until you consider how it treats members of other religions:
they're all certifiably insane. That doesn't work for me, because I
still believe that other people are beings like myself.
Faiths which classify the unfaithful as subhuman have proven to be
very difficult neighbors historically.
-- rec --
============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
