Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id PAA07816 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Mon, 23 Jul 2001 15:17:51 +0100 Message-ID: <3B5C3174.484B58D8@bioinf.man.ac.uk> Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2001 15:15:16 +0100 From: Chris Taylor <Christopher.Taylor@man.ac.uk> Organization: University of Manchester X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.77 [en] (Windows NT 5.0; U) X-Accept-Language: en To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: Logic References: <2D1C159B783DD211808A006008062D3101745FBE@inchna.stir.ac.uk> <995887237.3b5c0885aa5c3@rugth1.phys.rug.nl> <3B5C1CF2.942CD75F@bioinf.man.ac.uk> <995895798.3b5c29f6ad18f@rugth1.phys.rug.nl> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
> > And (!) logic can exist within religion - it's just a behaviour after
> > all, not a worldview.
>
> Isn't it a twisted logic then? I mean the tenets of religion
> obviously are metaphysical and therefore not rational. To
> `explain' phenomena of the world using logic based on
> shaky grounds is bound to ultimately run into inconsistencies,
> contradictions or fruitless results. Again I refer to the fruitless
> labors of Creationist science. Also you deny a possible
> rational explanation if you adhere to religious explanation,
> e.g. claiming something to be a `divine intervention' or
> sticking to slogans such as `It was the will of God'.
> People stay ignorant if clinging to such irrational sentiments.
Absolutely - as a default catholic who became atheist in fairly short
order I couldn't agree more. Not for nothing were the inconsistencies of
catholicism protected by being left in Latin, allowing priests to
'interpret' appropriately. Also the backflips and accomodations made by
the church over the years are legion (heliocentricity, evolution [at
least catholics have made their peace with Darwin], where the hell did
Cain's wife come from etc.) - all to keep the overall structure intact
(and priests in jobs I suppose). Unadulterated reality burns away such
religious sentiments like the sun on the morning mist.
I wouldn't call religious thought a twisted logic though, just rather
limited; much good science has been done by well educated monks etc. in
the name of understanding more fully the glory of creation (Paley et
al.), but which led to the loss of credibility religions now face; the
point is that logic means self-consistency, which is possible within
religion, as long as you don't expand the frame of reference too much.
Archbishop Ussher went a bit too far, for example.
Also, reflecting our humanity, even the most rational of minds can be
scared into religion when facing death - so it can still be just a
matter of the relative fitnesses of these memeplexes in a particular
mind environment rather than correctness per se.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chris Taylor (chris@bioinf.man.ac.uk)
http://bioinf.man.ac.uk/ »people»chris
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