RE: Your perception of theists
July 9, 2015 at 4:32 pm
(This post was last modified: July 9, 2015 at 5:09 pm by Angrboda.)
(July 9, 2015 at 3:53 pm)Pyrrho Wrote:(July 9, 2015 at 3:29 pm)Jörmungandr Wrote: I think it's a myth that theists are irrational about their theism. ...
Have you never heard any of the fallacious arguments that theists commonly give for their theism? Reasoning fallaciously is, by definition, irrational.
We reason fallaciously in many instances by design; it's called bias. To call these behaviors 'irrational' is I think to reflect an unnecessarily idealistic view of the way the brain arrives at solutions to problems; it's a value judgement, not an objective characterization of the ways in which people differ. Moreover, I don't see that much "fallacious reasoning" in theists; it's a difference of perspective I suppose. That you see their reasoning as flawed along the one dimension over which you differ is almost laughably stereotypical.
Would you like to provide an example of a fallacious theist argument that implies "fallacious reasoning" so that I can see what you're talking about?
I suspect you and I see rationality very differently. I wouldn't agree with a definition of reason which includes an absence of fallacies as a requirement. We recognize fallacies as fallacies because they are so common in people's thinking. If that is the bar for rationality than I'd say it's one that's ill met in the majority of cases, theist or no, so I would have no reason for having a preferential opinion of theists for their 'irrationality' in any case.
Merriam-Webster Wrote:Irrational, adj.
: not rational: as
a (1) : not endowed with reason or understanding (2) : lacking usual or normal mental clarity or coherence