Hey,
Deepak is a good guy though. And maybe, as the response posed, he is confusing skepticism with cynicism , and perhaps we are... It is a good point about how the modern skeptic has to be a certain thing. I have called myself a skeptic and a free-thinker here before, much to my consternation. I have been told that in essence, only non-believers are skeptic and only atheists are free thinkers. But cannot I be skeptical of the universe as I see it being accidental? Can I not be a free thinker and freely think something different from the norm? Is that not part of the definition?
Deepak's Huffington article was a little muddy, but I think he was trying to respond to the weaker side of modern skepticism, that nothing can exist without "proof" and "evidence", and on a more inter-personal level that we can treat people who are "less skeptical than thou" (when it is not a matter of skepticism but of conformity) as less enlightened than the Modern-Skeptic TM. Like scientific method, skepticism is a process and not a conclusion.
The part about confusing self-righteousness for happiness is fantastic. That the disconnected and lonely thought that you are more right than everyone else, and everyone else is more wrong... Is just unhealthy. We need to be careful how we identify ourselves, with what we identify, and the be the most "right" is dangerous and less than ideal.
It isn't one of his best works, but I think /I get what he meant to say, and I agree. Skepticism is a process, a mind state, and that is why I am a skeptic. I can believe in god, as a skepticism for the random universe. I can believe in the supernatural as a skeptical response to that which we can see. Cant I? Or is it like the "Free Thinker" thing, that I cannot join the Canadian Coalition of Free Thinkers because I am not an Atheist?
Thanks,
Too much devils advocate too early in the morning. And I wouldn't blame you if you already don't like hearing from me Eilo, we have disagreed strongly before. Oh and about that, how's Obama doing? We gave him a trillion dollars, is it change yet? I'm just being picky though, I am smiling when I write this...
The,
-Pip
Deepak is a good guy though. And maybe, as the response posed, he is confusing skepticism with cynicism , and perhaps we are... It is a good point about how the modern skeptic has to be a certain thing. I have called myself a skeptic and a free-thinker here before, much to my consternation. I have been told that in essence, only non-believers are skeptic and only atheists are free thinkers. But cannot I be skeptical of the universe as I see it being accidental? Can I not be a free thinker and freely think something different from the norm? Is that not part of the definition?
Deepak's Huffington article was a little muddy, but I think he was trying to respond to the weaker side of modern skepticism, that nothing can exist without "proof" and "evidence", and on a more inter-personal level that we can treat people who are "less skeptical than thou" (when it is not a matter of skepticism but of conformity) as less enlightened than the Modern-Skeptic TM. Like scientific method, skepticism is a process and not a conclusion.
The part about confusing self-righteousness for happiness is fantastic. That the disconnected and lonely thought that you are more right than everyone else, and everyone else is more wrong... Is just unhealthy. We need to be careful how we identify ourselves, with what we identify, and the be the most "right" is dangerous and less than ideal.
It isn't one of his best works, but I think /I get what he meant to say, and I agree. Skepticism is a process, a mind state, and that is why I am a skeptic. I can believe in god, as a skepticism for the random universe. I can believe in the supernatural as a skeptical response to that which we can see. Cant I? Or is it like the "Free Thinker" thing, that I cannot join the Canadian Coalition of Free Thinkers because I am not an Atheist?
Thanks,
Too much devils advocate too early in the morning. And I wouldn't blame you if you already don't like hearing from me Eilo, we have disagreed strongly before. Oh and about that, how's Obama doing? We gave him a trillion dollars, is it change yet? I'm just being picky though, I am smiling when I write this...
The,
-Pip
