1. Basic situation as I see it is this, God got it in the neck for the following reasons: a. Kant reduced demonstrations for his existence to a shakey moral inference. b. Philologists shredded the Bible so the text became unstable c. Voltaire & co mocked the inconsistencies.
-
Show this thread
-
2. d. Darwin knocked out the natural history side of it. Genetics accelerated this. What’s left is, at best, the Taleb, Jung & Peterson approach. Taleb says religion encodes useful nowledge. Jung & Peterson say it’s psychologically true, i.e. ....
1 reply 0 retweets 8 likesShow this thread -
3. ...you’ve got believe in something, and it’s better to believe in this tried and tested thing than, say, communism, which has worse outcomes. The problem is that there’s more than psych truth. I also know that religion rests on shakey ideas.
1 reply 0 retweets 10 likesShow this thread -
4. Even if I know it’s a psychological necessity, and there’s a need for the numinous. Further problem, it turns out that religion—Xtianity in particular—was a hidden animating force for the Enlightenment and science, because it prioritised truth.
3 replies 0 retweets 10 likesShow this thread -
Replying to @tomxhart
I'm instinctively inclined to agree with the claim that Christianity prioritises truth and therefore caused its own downfall, but the details mostly escape me. How would you convince a sceptic?
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @IDJennings
Read Nietzsche? This chap (
@vncvrrentevents) has a quite nice summary of the historical aspect: http://cosmosandhistory.org/index.php/journal/article/viewFile/518/894 … I may have misunderstood you. I’m assuming you mean a sceptic of this thesis, not Xtianity?3 replies 0 retweets 0 likes -
Replying to @tomxhart @vncvrrentevents
No, no, you've read me correctly. Have just begun ploughing through the 3rd book of The Gay Science, so I may find what I'm looking for there. Any other Nietzsche sources you can think of off the top of your head?
1 reply 0 retweets 0 likes
No, I can’t. I have read the Gay Science, but I’m not sure it’s in there. It was drilled into me by a comic book crib of Nietzsche as a teenager, perhaps it’s a misrepresentation of his view. @nastyinmuhtaxi & @UntergangMindst know Nietzsche well & may provide precise quotes.
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.