RE: Read any good books lately? Rate them here
April 14, 2015 at 10:17 am
(This post was last modified: April 14, 2015 at 10:27 am by Clueless Morgan.)
Started Dan Dennett's Intuition Pumps and Other Tools for Thinking last night.
EDIT:
I also realized when I finished The Bonobo and the Atheist why his chapters on atheism bothered me so much. The author (the atheist, not the bonobo) is Danish, so maybe it's a cultural thing, but he doesn't seem to be aware of the damage that indoctrination does to people, the harm it causes and the way religion can reek havoc on someone's life. He seems to take the approach of "Why bother arguing about something that isn't real?" without ever considering the question of "does this non-existent thing do harm to people?"
That's why his chapters discussing atheism and religion irked me so much. I agree with him in the sense that arguing about gods or religions is silly, just like arguing about the existence of unicorns is silly, but people aren't told they'll be tortured for all eternity in a lake of fire if they don't believe in unicorns.
Anyway, thought I'd share my realization.
EDIT:
I also realized when I finished The Bonobo and the Atheist why his chapters on atheism bothered me so much. The author (the atheist, not the bonobo) is Danish, so maybe it's a cultural thing, but he doesn't seem to be aware of the damage that indoctrination does to people, the harm it causes and the way religion can reek havoc on someone's life. He seems to take the approach of "Why bother arguing about something that isn't real?" without ever considering the question of "does this non-existent thing do harm to people?"
That's why his chapters discussing atheism and religion irked me so much. I agree with him in the sense that arguing about gods or religions is silly, just like arguing about the existence of unicorns is silly, but people aren't told they'll be tortured for all eternity in a lake of fire if they don't believe in unicorns.
Anyway, thought I'd share my realization.
Teenaged X-Files obsession + Bermuda Triangle episode + Self-led school research project = Atheist.