(October 4, 2013 at 7:16 pm)Rational AKD Wrote: you seem to forget the point I was trying to make in the OP. rational belief in naturalism is impossible. as you said, the only reason to believe any of our beliefs are necessarily true is if it is necessary to our survival. most beliefs aren't. and in fact, it's been shown that mild paranoia is more beneficial to survival than what's necessarily true. in that case, for all we know, many of our beliefs are a paranoid delusion. this includes the belief in naturalism itself, making it impossible to rationally believe it due to its self refuting nature. at best, you can say there's a 50/50 chance it's true which not only doesn't rationalize belief in it, but makes it literally impossible to rationalize because it refutes itself. you can't believe in naturalism and believe it to be true after accepting the conclusion of this argument.
You're misunderstanding what evolution says about the development of cognitive abilities. It's not that the only reason to believe something is if it is necessary to our survival. It is that our cognitive developments are the result of mutations that are "chosen" through natural selection, which is based upon survivability. Since determining the truth and surviving are not necessarily synonymous, our cognitive abilities were not adapted to determine the truth.
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell
