Our server costs ~$56 per month to run. Please consider donating or becoming a Patron to help keep the site running. Help us gain new members by following us on Twitter and liking our page on Facebook!
Current time: June 14, 2025, 8:39 pm

Thread Rating:
  • 1 Vote(s) - 1 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
What makes people irrational thinkers?
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers?
(December 28, 2021 at 11:35 am)Neo-Scholastic Wrote:
(December 27, 2021 at 7:12 pm)LadyForCamus Wrote: Hart makes the claim about physical reality being contingent multiple times, but thus far I haven’t come across any specific support for that assertion other than “something can’t come from nothing,” which is problematic for reasons i mentioned earlier. O
Also, there’s this:

“If it is one’s sordid fate to be an academic philosopher, one might even try to con- vince oneself that the question of existence is an inept or false query generated by the seductions of imprecise grammar, or one might simply adopt the analytic philosopher’s classic gesture of flinging one’s hands haplessly in the air and proclaiming that one simply finds the question entirely unintelligible. All of this, how- ever, is an abdication of the responsibility to think..”

On the contrary, that is a perfectly rational conclusion reached via intellectual honesty and humility regarding the limits of our own capabilities; the possibility that we simply don’t know, and may never know. This uncertainty seems profoundly uncomfortable for Hart as he mentions it as a reason to believe in the supernatural more than a few times in the first hundred pages. Uncomfortable and frustrating though it may be, the unknown does not give us intellectual license to simply make something up simply for the fact that it soothes our curiosity and agitation.

Is properly basic to consider physical reality non-contingent? I am okay with that but IMHO that also is an unsupported opinion. I wonder. How would you falsify this physicalist position?

I mean, it’s not any less supported than a non-contingent god. I think the pathway to falsifying the physicalist position is by demonstrating, or at the very least, soundly arguing for a possible alternative to existence. In order for physical reality to possibly be contingent there would have to have been an alternative state of affairs to existence that could have been instead. What is the alternative state of affairs to existence? Nothing? Nothing can’t be an alternative state. By its definition, nothing can’t be. The very notion is self-refuting. Hart talks about the infinite distance between being and non-being, as though either could potentially have been. I don’t see a way around this apparent logical paradox, but I’m open to ideas.

To be clear, I’m not asserting that physical reality exists necessarily (though it seems to me to be a rational metaphysical position) I’m only pointing out that Hart asserts that can’t be the case because his argument relies on that assumption being true, and so he’ll need to support it.
Nay_Sayer: “Nothing is impossible if you dream big enough, or in this case, nothing is impossible if you use a barrel of KY Jelly and a miniature horse.”

Wiser words were never spoken. 
Reply



Messages In This Thread
What makes people irrational thinkers? - by SlowCalculations - December 11, 2021 at 5:35 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 11, 2021 at 8:57 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Simon Moon - December 11, 2021 at 9:27 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 11, 2021 at 9:52 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 11, 2021 at 11:02 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 11, 2021 at 11:10 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Simon Moon - December 15, 2021 at 4:48 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 16, 2021 at 6:38 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Simon Moon - December 16, 2021 at 3:12 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 16, 2021 at 5:45 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 16, 2021 at 6:05 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Simon Moon - December 16, 2021 at 7:06 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 16, 2021 at 7:17 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 16, 2021 at 7:26 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 16, 2021 at 7:48 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 16, 2021 at 8:01 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 16, 2021 at 8:24 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 16, 2021 at 9:39 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 17, 2021 at 2:58 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 11, 2021 at 10:32 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 11, 2021 at 11:09 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 11, 2021 at 11:08 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 11, 2021 at 11:16 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 11, 2021 at 10:52 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by emjay - December 12, 2021 at 7:09 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 12, 2021 at 10:45 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 13, 2021 at 12:55 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 13, 2021 at 11:22 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 12, 2021 at 2:23 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 12, 2021 at 9:15 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Anomalocaris - December 12, 2021 at 5:10 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Anomalocaris - December 12, 2021 at 11:59 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Angrboda - December 12, 2021 at 6:57 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by HappySkeptic - December 13, 2021 at 11:46 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 13, 2021 at 12:34 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by vulcanlogician - December 14, 2021 at 12:02 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 14, 2021 at 3:37 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 14, 2021 at 9:57 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by vulcanlogician - December 15, 2021 at 11:06 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Fake Messiah - December 16, 2021 at 4:36 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Deesse23 - December 16, 2021 at 6:31 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 16, 2021 at 10:05 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Deesse23 - December 16, 2021 at 11:12 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by no one - December 14, 2021 at 6:17 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Anomalocaris - December 16, 2021 at 8:55 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 17, 2021 at 4:11 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 17, 2021 at 10:12 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Deesse23 - December 17, 2021 at 5:18 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by emjay - December 17, 2021 at 11:26 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 19, 2021 at 6:36 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Deesse23 - December 19, 2021 at 9:10 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 19, 2021 at 12:01 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by emjay - December 19, 2021 at 2:11 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 19, 2021 at 8:35 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by emjay - December 20, 2021 at 1:25 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 20, 2021 at 4:37 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Neo-Scholastic - December 19, 2021 at 12:49 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 19, 2021 at 1:26 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Angrboda - December 19, 2021 at 1:57 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by emjay - December 19, 2021 at 3:29 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by brewer - December 19, 2021 at 8:52 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Neo-Scholastic - December 20, 2021 at 12:09 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 20, 2021 at 12:22 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by LadyForCamus - December 20, 2021 at 2:09 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by emjay - December 20, 2021 at 4:02 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by LadyForCamus - December 20, 2021 at 12:54 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 20, 2021 at 7:09 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by LadyForCamus - December 20, 2021 at 7:28 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 20, 2021 at 7:38 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by LadyForCamus - December 20, 2021 at 9:05 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 20, 2021 at 10:51 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 20, 2021 at 8:02 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 21, 2021 at 4:09 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 21, 2021 at 9:57 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 22, 2021 at 4:41 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by emjay - December 20, 2021 at 8:05 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 20, 2021 at 8:14 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by emjay - December 20, 2021 at 8:38 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 20, 2021 at 8:57 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by emjay - December 20, 2021 at 9:17 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 20, 2021 at 9:20 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Mister Agenda - December 21, 2021 at 10:51 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 21, 2021 at 11:57 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 22, 2021 at 9:00 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 23, 2021 at 7:07 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 23, 2021 at 7:39 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by R00tKiT - December 22, 2021 at 3:30 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Rahn127 - December 24, 2021 at 12:04 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by LadyForCamus - December 26, 2021 at 1:40 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 27, 2021 at 3:32 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Fake Messiah - December 27, 2021 at 7:20 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 27, 2021 at 9:11 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by LadyForCamus - December 27, 2021 at 4:31 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 27, 2021 at 4:36 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 27, 2021 at 5:20 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by LadyForCamus - December 27, 2021 at 5:33 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 28, 2021 at 7:47 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by LadyForCamus - December 28, 2021 at 7:55 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by LadyForCamus - December 28, 2021 at 8:02 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - December 28, 2021 at 9:42 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by LadyForCamus - December 28, 2021 at 11:01 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Simon Moon - January 3, 2022 at 2:52 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Deesse23 - January 4, 2022 at 3:13 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Simon Moon - January 4, 2022 at 5:29 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by brewer - December 26, 2021 at 8:04 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 26, 2021 at 10:39 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Angrboda - December 26, 2021 at 12:11 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by emjay - December 26, 2021 at 4:15 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 26, 2021 at 5:42 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by emjay - December 26, 2021 at 6:55 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 26, 2021 at 1:59 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by LadyForCamus - December 27, 2021 at 1:19 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by emjay - December 27, 2021 at 9:28 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by brewer - December 27, 2021 at 7:45 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Ahriman - December 27, 2021 at 1:15 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Angrboda - December 27, 2021 at 3:22 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by LadyForCamus - December 27, 2021 at 4:37 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Ahriman - December 27, 2021 at 5:25 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by LadyForCamus - December 27, 2021 at 5:34 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - December 27, 2021 at 8:40 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Ahriman - December 27, 2021 at 6:49 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Ahriman - December 27, 2021 at 7:02 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Angrboda - December 27, 2021 at 8:04 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Ahriman - December 27, 2021 at 8:11 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Angrboda - December 27, 2021 at 9:30 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Deesse23 - December 28, 2021 at 3:46 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by LadyForCamus - December 27, 2021 at 7:12 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Neo-Scholastic - December 28, 2021 at 11:35 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by LadyForCamus - December 28, 2021 at 12:06 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Angrboda - December 28, 2021 at 1:29 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Goosebump - January 2, 2022 at 12:31 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Deesse23 - January 2, 2022 at 6:27 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Goosebump - January 2, 2022 at 6:37 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Deesse23 - January 2, 2022 at 8:51 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Goosebump - January 2, 2022 at 9:21 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - January 3, 2022 at 5:55 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - January 3, 2022 at 11:03 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by brewer - January 3, 2022 at 9:38 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by LadyForCamus - January 4, 2022 at 12:44 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Paleophyte - January 4, 2022 at 3:15 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Paleophyte - January 4, 2022 at 11:42 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by GrandizerII - January 4, 2022 at 11:57 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Paleophyte - January 4, 2022 at 12:57 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by brewer - January 4, 2022 at 10:16 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Paleophyte - January 5, 2022 at 12:01 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by GrandizerII - January 5, 2022 at 12:30 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by emjay - January 5, 2022 at 2:04 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by polymath257 - January 5, 2022 at 10:24 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Simon Moon - January 5, 2022 at 2:27 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Simon Moon - January 5, 2022 at 3:39 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Rahn127 - January 6, 2022 at 10:33 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Simon Moon - January 6, 2022 at 8:25 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Ranjr - January 5, 2022 at 12:22 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Ranjr - January 5, 2022 at 1:11 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Ranjr - January 5, 2022 at 2:36 am
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Angrboda - January 6, 2022 at 11:03 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by brewer - January 6, 2022 at 9:53 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by brewer - January 7, 2022 at 12:12 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by brewer - January 7, 2022 at 12:22 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Nay_Sayer - January 7, 2022 at 1:52 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by brewer - January 7, 2022 at 4:37 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Ranjr - January 7, 2022 at 6:26 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Ranjr - January 7, 2022 at 8:17 pm
RE: What makes people irrational thinkers? - by Belacqua - January 15, 2022 at 9:55 am

Possibly Related Threads...
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  If you had to pick between people who pimp prostitutes vs religious people Woah0 22 3283 August 28, 2022 at 5:51 pm
Last Post: Rev. Rye
  It makes me sad Rahn127 7 2101 April 24, 2019 at 10:55 am
Last Post: LostLocke
  What makes people believe in religion? LetThereBeNoGod 11 3791 February 21, 2017 at 2:39 pm
Last Post: Mr Greene
  Are there any scientific books or studies that explain what makes a person religious? WisdomOfTheTrees 13 3338 February 9, 2017 at 2:33 am
Last Post: Mirek-Polska
  Atheism is irrational. theologian 153 29603 December 15, 2016 at 4:56 pm
Last Post: Asmodee
  As an atheist, what makes your socks go up and down?? vorlon13 4 1743 May 18, 2016 at 7:03 am
Last Post: ignoramus
  How Irrational People Think Mudhammam 41 9317 January 18, 2015 at 4:57 pm
Last Post: KevinM1
  In need of a more humbleness. Why condemning the Theistic position makes no sense. Mystic 141 31773 September 22, 2014 at 7:59 am
Last Post: Chas
  Irrational beliefs ManMachine 29 6241 July 27, 2014 at 11:35 pm
Last Post: Jackalope
  Atheism Kills Off the Ambition of the Lower Classes and Makes them Anti-Social Blackrook 59 31775 July 9, 2014 at 7:05 pm
Last Post: Amalynne0



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)