(February 22, 2015 at 12:14 am)kskut Wrote: Just watched a documentary about Dawkins and Strauss...and the DC Reason Rally. But it raised a question for me that I hope someone can answer. Dawkins, et al, seem to equate reason and consciousness, and also seem to argue that reason is the end all and cure all. But isn't reason a subset of consciousness? Logical thought is a useful tool, of course. But I am first, then I think. I feel, I emote, I suffer, and no amount of rational thought will trump feelings of loneliness, love, compassion, wonderment, joy, empathy...otherwise we would just be mechanical thinking machines. Reason and logical thought is only one way to arrive at knowledge and truth. There is another way, which some philosophers call ontological. Of course many of the precepts of "religion" are logically absurd. But for many they ring true on a deeper existential level. Do atheists just ignore the ontological, and therefore remain rooted in 19th Century rationalism?
Not at all. Well some do. I am completely without belief in gods but find i have no trouble conceptualizing consciousness as more than reason. Remember atheism isn't anything in particular apart from a lack of belief in gods. I find that no impediment to an interest in the nature of self and personal identity. God is extraneous to consciousness, an optional accessory I choose to do without.
