RE: Paschal's Wager re-formulated mathematically: why being Christian is Rational.
July 24, 2023 at 10:35 am
(This post was last modified: July 24, 2023 at 10:57 am by The Grand Nudger.)
I don't think there's anything rational about imagining that the the forces of nature are super powered people with an intervention hobby. That's blatant and pure projection, informed by a strong urge to wishful thinking, coupled with an obsessive desire to negotiate with things beyond our control or influence.
To be fair, catholicism doesn't really stand out as more irrational than any other form of the belief in personal and intervening deities, either. I know, I know, they believe that they can make a loyalty oath, and then eat a mystical cracker that a shaman has cast a magic spell over, and that this is a way of negotiating with their own mortality....but that's just the regional flavor of a bog standard belief in the transactional nature of divinity present in all theistic religions. All theistic religions have this basic feature in common, it's the difference between deism and theism. I'd say deism is less irrational than theism, but only because they cut out half of the formulation. A deist god is non interventionist - it can't be bargained with and there's no point in bargaining with it. It's still personal, so still not rational - but I guess it was an improvement for it's time.
I think it's a largely academic argument, though, as no one..and I mean no one, actually comes to any state of belief based upon the rationality of those beliefs. That's us rewriting our own personal and collective histories without any factual information..and honestly..without the ability to have any factual information, about why we believe what we do, and what we don't. In a wider view, this idea that we're rational believers or unbelievers is an ad hoc hypothesis informed by contemporary societal values no matter which side of the equation we're on.
That, imo, is why these discussions never actually go anywhere. It's just two contemporary social groups arguing over who has possession of a thing they both agree has value, and would be determinative. The irony is delicious.
To be fair, catholicism doesn't really stand out as more irrational than any other form of the belief in personal and intervening deities, either. I know, I know, they believe that they can make a loyalty oath, and then eat a mystical cracker that a shaman has cast a magic spell over, and that this is a way of negotiating with their own mortality....but that's just the regional flavor of a bog standard belief in the transactional nature of divinity present in all theistic religions. All theistic religions have this basic feature in common, it's the difference between deism and theism. I'd say deism is less irrational than theism, but only because they cut out half of the formulation. A deist god is non interventionist - it can't be bargained with and there's no point in bargaining with it. It's still personal, so still not rational - but I guess it was an improvement for it's time.
I think it's a largely academic argument, though, as no one..and I mean no one, actually comes to any state of belief based upon the rationality of those beliefs. That's us rewriting our own personal and collective histories without any factual information..and honestly..without the ability to have any factual information, about why we believe what we do, and what we don't. In a wider view, this idea that we're rational believers or unbelievers is an ad hoc hypothesis informed by contemporary societal values no matter which side of the equation we're on.
That, imo, is why these discussions never actually go anywhere. It's just two contemporary social groups arguing over who has possession of a thing they both agree has value, and would be determinative. The irony is delicious.
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