(May 9, 2015 at 4:28 pm)Cephus Wrote:(May 9, 2015 at 8:06 am)wallym Wrote: If you think the world is flat, it is not irrational to believe you might fall off the edge if you sail far enough in one direction. There is a difference between incorrect and irrational. What happens is people have a view of the world, and they look for a way to explain that view. God is an a very good answer for their false impression of reality.
But if you take away the premises, say the world is round or humans do not have intrinsic value, then there is no longer a reason to believe you'll fall off the edge, or God exists. It's an important distinction.
But the initial belief in a flat world is irrational, thus anything based upon that belief is also irrational. There is absolutely no reason in the modern world for anyone to believe that the world is flat but that doesn't stop some people from belonging to the Flat Earth Society (although I suspect it's largely a joke these days). At the core of rationality is the ability to reason and these people are not reasoning their way into their beliefs, they are using pure and unrestrained emotion. That makes their beliefs irrational by definition. Their beliefs are not reasonable nor rational nor logical.
You can only spin this so many ways. The religious are as ridiculous as people who believe in unicorns or leprechauns.
Do you really think it was irrational for the people 1000's of years ago to believe the world was flat?
A modern example is Free will. Most people believe in free will. It looks like it's probably not real. I don't think people living their lives like free will is real are irrational. They are just mistaken about a premise on which they are basing their conclusions.
Do you understand the distinction I'm trying to make between faulty premises and being irrational?
