In the same way, religious people can write about this without first having to explain why God is real. We know that people have different views on this - theist/atheist, pragmatist/empiricist. They can write all sorts of things from those perspectives.
I've given up. I can't get to the bottom of your objection except that it seems to be that he should have both written from a different angle - an epistemic one rather than a psychological one - and acknowledged value in the ideas - even if he didn't think they had any.
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No, that's not it, I don't feel I have the right to dictate his subject or tone. I'm out of ways to rephrase so I'll have to go think about it for a while.
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OK. I really am genuinely confused. Not being difficult. Goodnight!
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If I specify the grounds on which a critique is based, you can respond either on those grounds or by changing them. If I say, "there is no empirical evidence of God", you can either provide some or change the parameters of the debate. But either way we can have the debate.
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But if I say, "the Qur'an is bullshit" without specifying grounds, I've taken the objective perspective & it's just a provocation. It might be justified, and I certainly have the right to do it, but I should expect nothing but hostility b/c there's no debate to be had.
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Having re-read James' piece, he makes sweeping statements & bases his critiques on unexamined assumptions about the negativity of religious thought without specifying the grounds for that judgment. Instead of a good-faith argument, it comes across as condescension--of course
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these ideas are wrong. He's welcome to that opinion, but not to the idea that it's self-evident. That's what makes it a provocation. Please note that I'm not saying he should change his subject matter or tone, or questioning the devotion of JBP's followers, and I'm certainly not
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proselytizing. I'm saying he should be clear about the position he's arguing from instead of presuming objectivity in order to punch down at his targets.
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*along with "religious thought" I should have mentioned pragmatism & JBP's notion of "truth", which he mentions several times without elaborating.
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