(August 14, 2015 at 12:59 am)Shuffle Wrote: I believe that he is a great scientist and is really smart, however his attitudes towards atheism are very cowardly. For example at around the 25 second mark he calls atheism a philosophy and claims that with it comes baggage.
I've been thinking about that again after looking at The Atheist Scholar website. From the Introduction
Quote:The time of atheism has come of age. Atheists desire not only activism and community with others of like mind, but knowledge of our history, our value and philosophical systems, and our life stance, based on science and rationality.
An atheist might wish to learn more about the philosophy, history and various aspects of the atheist life stance she/he has embraced.
The atheist who plans to be an activist needs a grasp of atheist history, law, philosophy, sociology and more.
From NDT's wikipedia page
Quote:Tyson has spoken about philosophy on numerous occasions. In March 2014, during an episode of the Nerdist Podcast, he stated that philosophy is "useless" and that a philosophy major "can really mess you up",[64] which was met with disapproval.[65][66][67][68] Philosopher Massimo Pigliucci later criticized him for "dismiss[ing] philosophy as a useless enterprise".[69]
So, I don't think he's being cowardly. He just doesn't want people assuming that he goes along with any of the Atheistic Philosophies because he regards philosophy as a waste of time. He'd rather people ask him what he really thinks instead of deciding in advance that he's going to present the views of Naturalism, Humanism, Objectivism, Logical Positivism, Skepticism, Existentialism or Postmodernism.
Back to the The Atheist Scholar introduction.
Quote:The Atheist Scholar believes it is important to know from where atheism came, what atheists thought in the past and what they believe now, and who we are.
Why is it important for everyone who disbelieves or lacks belief in the existence of deities to know all this?
Where are the snake and mushroom smilies?