RE: Do we expect too much from human reason?
March 2, 2015 at 10:02 pm
(This post was last modified: March 2, 2015 at 10:32 pm by Whateverist.)
(March 2, 2015 at 3:20 pm)Thoughtage Wrote: Somebody asked....
Quote:Can you list what you see as the tenets of atheism’s
faith?
And I replied....
Quote:Somebody makes a god claim. Such claims typically
attempt to describe the source of all reality, the
foundation of everything.
The listener analyzes the god claim with their human
reason. The listener concludes the god claim lacks
sufficient evidence. The listener becomes an atheist.
Plenty do emphasize the importance of evidence. And all things considered, if you want to convince someone else of anything, what can be better than evidence?
(March 2, 2015 at 3:20 pm)Thoughtage Wrote: The foundation of atheism is the assumption that the
rules of human reason are binding upon the area the god
claim is being made about, all of reality, everything.
There is no proof that the rules of human reason are
binding on all of reality, an arena we can not yet
define in even the most basic manner.
Thus, the foundation of atheism is faith.
No, the foundation of atheism is the lack of belief in gods. Your hypothesis is that it is faith in human reason which leads one to respond in the negative to god claims. So in the absence of evidence, what is it that makes you so confident in your hypothesis. Just so you know, it isn't my confidence in human reason which causes me to question your hypothesis. As with god, I'm just not feeling it.
What I say is I harbor no belief in gods. I don't defend myself from them, they just find no purchase in my soil. That isn't a reasoned position and I no more need faith in reason to reject a hypothesis than I do to accept one.
But atheism doesn't require any rejection of god belief. A simple admission of its lack will do.