(July 9, 2013 at 12:31 am)MindForgedManacle Wrote: Er, why are you referring to Hitchens as a philosopher? I mean hey, I agreed with numerous things Hitch said, but so too did I disagree with much of what he said. While he showed some amount of familiarity with philosophy, that doesn't equate actually being one.
*Back on topic* From what I (think I) understand, this 'God virus' hypothesis is more or less just using Richard Dawkins' idea of a 'meme', yes? If so, there are good reasons to doubt this, as much about the concept of memes is uncertain and not really addressed, like how does a meme *actually* get around to intentionally defending itself, or how does it *actually* propagate? It seems to lack real explanatory power, and only provide a bit of predictive capability.
Are you not officially a philosopher until you hold a degree in Philosophy? I don't think he has a diploma on his bedroom wall, but I think Hitchens's book, God is Not Great is definitely Philosophy.
Yeah, Ray is, in essence, expanding on Dawkins's theory of memes; thank you for bringing this up. I think he (Ray) is speaking more specifically about fundamentalist religions, as opposed to Dawkins, who is talking about cultures.
I suggest you read the book. I really cannot explain everything in a forum post.
