Would Polytheism Be Better For Us ?

[karlhenning]

None of the above.

In any event, it could not possibly be anywhere near as horrible, deluded or depressing as the OP.

[Bulldog]

In any event, it could not possibly be anywhere near as horrible, deluded or depressing as the OP.

I was going to say something like the above, but I hesitated in calling the OP horrible.  However, he certainly is deluded and depressing.

[71 dB]

I don't think it's even 'versus'; I think the whole 'theism versus science' debate is based on a misconception. Science is a particular kind of process pursuing a particular kind of method, in the hope of producing more predictive models of a particular kind. Science has been so successful because it works so well, statistically speaking. It tends to make reliable predictions about certain kinds of events, and we like that; it works so much better than reading tea-leaves, or alchemy. But you can't get a viable philosophy out of it, I think, or use it to find 'meaning' in the shape of an alternative to a world view that includes the spiritual. At least, I can't.

It seems Elgar's greatness is the only thing we agree about... 

No, wait! We both admire baroque music too!  0:)

Philosophy is science, not something "spiritual". Science is successful because it is the right way to gain information and understanding. Science does not only "predict events", it's even more important implication is the way it make us understand things, even spiritual ones. Science shows our place in the universe and the limits and the frame that defines our existence. Science explains why evolution made us spiritual and religious. It also tells us that we no longer need religion because over the time scientific conception of the world has become so much better, accurate, beneficial and intellectually satisfying than any religion. The problem is not in science trying to explain spiritual things, it's religion trying to tackle scientific questions. While doing so, religion damages human mind.

Spiritual world is subordinate to physical reality. We don't need religion for spiritual aspects. I have been an atheist all my life and I am just as spiritual person as anyone. However, my scientific conception of the world tells my all spirituality has physical background and is scientifically explicable. How advanced science it takes is another story. I'm sure anthropologists know a lot already.

[Josquin des Prez]

None of the above.

What is it then?

[drogulus]

Spiritual world is subordinate to physical reality. We don't need religion for spiritual aspects. I have been an atheist all my life and I am just as spiritual person as anyone. However, my scientific conception of the world tells my all spirituality has physical background and is scientifically explicable. How advanced science it takes is another story. I'm sure anthropologists know a lot already.

     I agree in general, however:

     Some people can only conceive of spirit in a dualist framework. For them religion is an efficient vehicle, as it is for ethics as well. So religion can be seen as a very survivable container for ideas that have learned to travel together, so to speak. Do you really want to answer all these questions separately? Well, you and I, maybe, but what about the majority?

     Likewise, would you like to decide every economic and political issue independently or would you prefer to be a liberal or conservative and pick your fights within those parameters? I choose to be a liberal and define my differences from there.

     So it's only partly a matter of which ideas are true (for some ideas this is all that matters) and partly which ideas help to make life easier and more fulfilling regardless of whether a truth value can appropriately be put on them. My thermostat tells me what the temperature is and I tell it what temperature is good, so we have a nice partnership with no misunderstandings.

[Dr. Dread]

There are seven gods. Send me money and I'll tell you who they are. In the meantime, chop wood, carry water.

[karlhenning]

There are seven gods. Send me money and I'll tell you who they are. In the meantime, chop wood, carry water.

Syemero Ikh!  Syemero Ikh!  Syemero Ikh!  Syemero Ikh!  Syemero Ikh!  Syemero Ikh!

Syemero Ikh!   0:)

[Dr. Dread]

[Elgarian]

Philosophy is science, not something "spiritual".

1. I didn't say that philosophy is 'spiritual'; I think maybe you're arguing there with something you think I said - not with what I actually said; I won't try to defend a position that I don't hold.

2. I think that to equate philosophy with science is to rob both words of their meaning. I think if you were a logical positivist (it sounds as if you might be inclined that way), then I suppose you'd maintain that scientific questions were the only questions that can be meaningfully asked, but that's just one particular 'branch' of philosophy, as it were.

The whole thrust of my post was to question the value of these 'religion versus science' debates, and in that respect I don't have anything to add to my earlier post; so I don't think there's anything we can usefully discuss here, really.

[karlhenning]

2. I think that to equate philosophy with science is to rob both words of their meaning.

Hear, hear.

[Elgarian]

There are seven gods. Send me money and I'll tell you who they are. In the meantime, chop wood, carry water.

My cheque is in the post.

[Dr. Dread]

My cheque is in the post.

Thanks. Once it clears, I will reveal all to you in a dream.

In the meantime, here's a freebie: One of the gods is named Squint-eye and he is the god of tobacco, firearms and alcohol.

[karlhenning]

Thanks. Once it clears, I will reveal all to you in a dream.

Aw, man, Daverino, just when we had this whole "intellectual property" thing all taped out . . . .

[Dr. Dread]

Aw, man, Daverino, just when we had this whole "intellectual property" thing all taped out . . . .

Am I trespassing? If so, I blame the man with the flaming sword down on Hennepin and 6th.

[karlhenning]

(Hmm . . . flaming sword . . . see Opus 94 . . . .)

[Dr. Dread]

(Hmm . . . flaming sword . . . see Opus 94 . . . .)

No. I think his name was "Schmidty".

[ChamberNut]

Cotton breathes more than Polyester.

Food for thought.

[Bulldog]

What is it then?

An admirable movement that resulted in a Jewish homeland.  Are you thinking of moving there?

[Elgarian]

Cotton breathes more than Polyester.

Just as well, I'd say. If it were the other way round, we'd be a dangerous step closer to polythene-ism.

[Elgarian]

In the meantime, here's a freebie: One of the gods is named Squint-eye and he is the god of tobacco, firearms and alcohol.

Just a moment. Is He one of the Seven? If He is, then I've been diddled, because everyone knows Him now, even though they didn't pay. On the other hand, if He isn't one of the Seven, but an Eighth, then you couldn't have been honest when you said there were Seven.

Either way, I'm starting to doubt the veracity of your claims, and I am not a little worried about my cheque; not to mention being anxious about potential issues concerning my abuse of capital letters.