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Religion : the downfall of humanity.

Paralogic said:
Parmenides explained reality as well as he could... 500 BCE... then all Western thought was plunged into a tar pit of religion... and we still have not been able to come out of it.

Humans are not relevant to reality, we know that much, but without religion we would be in a so much better place in understanding the universe.

Physics and Cosmology have come a long way to get rid of superstition and show us what reality is. I hope for the best in the next 200 years.
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Even though religion is on the ropes, it is not in retreat. It could go either way. Even though atheists are increasing in numbers, the religious nuts are having more kids.

As places like the US and Europe see secularism expand, they are also seeing an increase of immigrants who are extremely religious, and very fertile. Until places like South America, Africa and the Middle East go secular, the war on reason will probably be won by the religious.
 
American said:
So philosophy is not reason, but unsubstantiated opinion?
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A good deal of it. If there is no real world applications, or if it starts with premises that can not be verified, and comes to conclusions that have no real world applications, then yes, it is nothing but opinion. A lot of metaphysics is like that. Ethics is almost like that, but has real world applications. Also, areas that examine such questions as 'how do we know what we know' aren't like that. However, there is a lot of m that metaphysics that are pretentious and masquerades as knowledge or wisdom.
 
CrabCake said:
Actually, most contemporary evolutionary theorists believe that religion was a social glue that drew people together into societies ...
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LOL... where? In Christian Theological schools in Kentucky?

Relion, was, is, and will always be, a mental quicksand, a dark and bottomless pit of the human mind... blocking human intelligence from discovering Universal Truth, or Cosmological Reality (TM).

Religion is a human mental dysfunction. It will take a while to get rid of it, unfortunately.
 
Paralogic said:
LOL... where? In Christian Theological schools in Kentucky?
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Harvard, for one. E.O. Wilson, the father of sociobiology, has championed the adaptation view I described.

Oxford, for another. Justin Barrett (leading expert in cognitive neuroscience of religion) also sees it that way.

David Sloan Wilson, evolutionary biologist, formerly of Harvard, now in Bighamton also promotes this view.

It's a very prevalent theory in the academic world.

Paralogic said:
Relion, was, is, and will always be, a mental quicksand, a dark and bottomless pit of the human mind... blocking human intelligence from discovering Universal Truth, or Cosmological Reality (TM).

Religion is a human mental dysfunction. It will take a while to get rid of it, unfortunately.
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Your view is a minority opinion for which you have no evidence and which directly contradicts existing science. One could almost call your view...religious.
 
RAMOSS said:
A good deal of it. If there is no real world applications, or if it starts with premises that can not be verified, and comes to conclusions that have no real world applications, then yes, it is nothing but opinion. A lot of metaphysics is like that. Ethics is almost like that, but has real world applications. Also, areas that examine such questions as 'how do we know what we know' aren't like that. However, there is a lot of m that metaphysics that are pretentious and masquerades as knowledge or wisdom.
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Since this is a philosophical discussion forum, this is all just your opinion.
 
American said:
Since this is a philosophical discussion forum, this is all just your opinion.
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Yes, yes it is my opinion. I like things that are more practical that using unsupported premises that lead to an untestable conclusion that otherwise does not have real world applications. It is as valid an opinion as any from those who pretend to be wise, and offer fluff and nonsense to the world.
 
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