Quote:If you are not a naturalist what are you? Do you believe in some sort of supernatural power or spirituality?(September 7, 2010 at 7:59 pm)chasm Wrote: [quote='Flobee' pid='92279' dateline='1283900885']Yes there is. At least, I'm not a naturalist so I don't know why you are using that argument with me.
In naturalism however there really isn't an "I" or a "me" because we are nothing more then the chemicals of our bodies, we are only a brain. So we would think in terms of saying things like "hey use your brain," but that implies that we are distinct from our brain.
I'm not necessarily singling you out trying to argue with you I'm just putting forward this argument and asking how you guys respond to it. I never set out trying to prove God in this post I'm simply saying that atheism almost necessarily subscribes to the naturalist or materialist world view and I think we've shown that free will is not possible with such a view. So if you believe in free will I think it should make you think twice about believing in only a natural universe with nothing beyond it.vv
Quote:I don't want to explain free will. I have it and that's good enough for me. I can admit that I don't know, but I'm not going to believe in God just because something can't be explained.I think in some ways taking a position like that is a refusal to look at the evidence and see where it leads. That's like a Christian saying "I just believe it because the Bible says so and that's that!" Our belief's should be in accord with reason and I don't think believing in free will and naturalism can go hand in hand so you either decide you don't believe in free will or you don't believe in naturalism. I think it takes a lot of mental gymnastics to convince yourself that there is no free will is all I'm saying.
But as you say you don't believe in a purely material universe, so what kind of atheist are you, how do you believe the universe got here?
