New theistic chew toys wanted!

[Fireball]

Well, I for one would like to see better representation of atheists with richer understanding of atheism's intellectual history. I mean seriously...I quote more Nietzsche than any atheist here.

Gee, that's really impressive.

If only everyone would just quote other people.

Fuxake what a pompous remark.

I've heard of Nietzsche. Didn't need to have to read him figure out religion was bullshit.

[Silver]

I rarely quote other people because I prefer to create my own content.

[Ahriman]

I rarely quote other people because I prefer to create my own content.

Well yeah, but can't you build on what someone else has said?

[Silver]

Technically, everything we say someone else has already said. We're always semantically refining what we verbally express.

[Ahriman]

Technically, everything we say someone else has already said. We're always semantically refining what we verbally express.

I would strongly disagree. Everything I say is original. When I type, my fingers have never made those exact movements before. When I speak, my vocal chords have never vibrated in quite the same way, as before.

[Brian37]

Why is everyone ignoring Shrodinger's cat?

[no one]

So many of these theists turn out to be dicks. And you just want them to come?

[Neo-Scholastic]

Well, I for one would like to see better representation of atheists with richer understanding of atheism's intellectual history. I mean seriously...I quote more Nietzsche than any atheist here.

Gee, that's really impressive.

If only everyone would just quote other people.

Fuxake what a pompous remark.

You are right that does sound elitist. I have nothing against more light-hearted threads where people make pithy comments, discuss topical issues, and/or build a sense of community.

I was expressing a preference for discussions where the participants share the common nomenclature of the Western philosophy. I simply get more out of being reminded of an objection by Hume, for example, and forced to reckon with it than I get from clever irreverences. IMHO, there are more than enough atheist members noting the problems with fundamentalist doctrines in the section devoted to religion and too few pondering the ramifications of the death of god in the philosophy section.

That said, the religious trolls tend to keep the atheist trolls occupied and out of my hair, which is just fine with me.

[vulcanlogician]

Gee, that's really impressive.

If only everyone would just quote other people.

Fuxake what a pompous remark.

You are right that does sound elitist. I have nothing against more light-hearted threads where people make pithy comments, discuss topical issues, and/or build a sense of community.

I was expressing a preference for discussions where the participants share the common nomenclature of the Western philosophy. I simply get more out of being reminded of an objection by Hume, for example, and forced to reckon with it than I get from clever irreverences. IMHO, there are more than enough atheist members noting the problems with fundamentalist doctrines in the section devoted to religion and too few pondering the ramifications of the death of god in the philosophy section.

That said, the religious trolls tend to keep the atheist trolls occupied and out of my hair, which is just fine with me.

I dig what you're saying, actually. But I think a lot of it boils down to "people in general" not being interested in philosophy-- not necessarily atheists not being interested in philosophy. I mean, most people don't care. We tend to think of the Greeks as the intellectual giants of ancient times, but they killed Socrates. Why? Because most of his Greek contemporaries didn't see the relevance of what Socrates was saying. A disconcern with philosophy is endemic of all ages... all peoples... and all subgroups of all peoples.

As for your original comment about Nietzsche... I didn't read it as pompous personally. Just snarky. And an appropriate amount of snark for a thread with this title.

[Spongebob]

Great, now I'm feeling a pang of guilt. I often get triggered by idiot theists and fall into their web of nonsense. It's a bad personality trait. I hear what Neo is saying and Vulcan, too. On another forum I had a years-long discourse with a few theists who were extremely intelligent and well versed in logic/philosophy & science. No, they were no where near being fundies so it was a pleasure most of the time. They represented maybe 5% of the theists who showed up there. We had one very fundamental Christian who was a good sport for a while until he just had enough and left the forum. He demanded that the administrator delete his account and all of his posts. We didn't do that.

---

I dig what you're saying, actually. But I think a lot of it boils down to "people in general" not being interested in philosophy-- not necessarily atheists not being interested in philosophy. I mean, most people don't care. We tend to think of the Greeks as the intellectual giants of ancient times, but they killed Socrates. Why? Because most of his Greek contemporaries didn't see the relevance of what Socrates was saying. A disconcern with philosophy is endemic of all ages... all peoples... and all subgroups of all peoples.

As for your original comment about Nietzsche... I didn't read it as pompous personally. Just snarky. And an appropriate amount of snark for a thread with this title.

I think one problem is that it seems unattainable for lots of people.  You have to devote a lot of time reading and understanding to be able to communicate with others and even then it's easy to get bogged down.  I pick up what I can tangentially but I spend far more time studying history because that's more of a passion for me.  For instance, I read Republic from a historical perspective, not a philosophical one.