Um... I don't disagree with that. Are we talking about specific gnostic practices, or the crazies who tend to teach them? Those are two different conversations. Newton was as close to a quack as anyone. Yet calculus is one of the greatest discoveries/inventions in human history.
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Science is not defined by methods but by being methodical. Introspection must be accepted as an important paradigm in cognitive science, and even when only have to explain the phenomenon of people reporting a phenomenon we must do so.
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Try telling that to Dawkins, or Dennett, or... pretty much any big-time scientist or philosopher with a sizable influence in the intellectual public sphere.
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I think they would fully agree! They may just hesitate to take all conclusions of spiritual teachers at face value, before being convinced of the merits of their arguments and interpretations.
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I've seen a lot of IYI nonsense from Dawkins, Dennett, and Pinker. I don't think I could ever take any of the seriously.
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As an undergrad, I got introduced to a number of groundbreaking ideas by the books and lectures of all three of them. These ideas are still considered to be mostly true today! I owe them a great debt.
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I've never read them. They just sounded really stupid on video, making some very basic logical errors. I used to like Sam Harris until I found Taleb, who I derived far more utility from.
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Dawkins in particular specializes in sounding stupid on video. I do recommend reading The Selfish Gene and maybe also The Ancestor's Tale. His writings on evolutionary biology are quite good. I enjoyed Pinker's book The Language Instinct. Haven't been impressed by his others.
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Dennett has written tons of short articles and I can't recall off the top of my head which is the best starting point, but it's worth learning his perspective. I strongly disagree with his reductionist stance but he articulates that stances very well.
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