“We’ve evolved to be creationists
“We’ve evolved to be creationists is a quote from the “The Atlantic Monthly article “Is God an Accident?—December 2005 issue.
Paul Bloom, author of the article, informs us that “human beings come into the world with a predisposition to believe in supernatural phenomena¦this predisposition is an incidental by-product of cognitive functioning gone awry.
Paul Bloom informs us that nearly everyone on earth believes in miracles, afterlife, and the creation of the earth by some supernatural power. While doing research into infant behavior, psychologists have recently discovered that humans are born with a predisposition to believe in some supernatural actuality. These scientists conclude that this predisposition is a random happenstance of cognitive functioning gone awry. These conclusions led to the question “Is God an Accident?--the title of the article.
I have just found the answer to a question that has baffled me for years. Why do non-believers love to talk religion? Perhaps talking about religion is much like ‘whistling past the cemetery’.
Everyone loves to talk religion because we are all born with the “gut feeling that there is a body/mind duality. Because we “feel that mind is a “spiritual entity we easily accommodate heaven, soul, god etc.
Science says that this gut feeling is a result of “cognitive functioning gone awry and religion tells us that this is a matter of faith. What do you think?
We've evolved to be creationists
We've evolved to be creationists
coberst;639814 wrote: “We’ve evolved to be creationists
“We’ve evolved to be creationists is a quote from the “The Atlantic Monthly article “Is God an Accident?—December 2005 issue.
Paul Bloom, author of the article, informs us that “human beings come into the world with a predisposition to believe in supernatural phenomena¦this predisposition is an incidental by-product of cognitive functioning gone awry.
Paul Bloom informs us that nearly everyone on earth believes in miracles, afterlife, and the creation of the earth by some supernatural power. While doing research into infant behavior, psychologists have recently discovered that humans are born with a predisposition to believe in some supernatural actuality. These scientists conclude that this predisposition is a random happenstance of cognitive functioning gone awry. These conclusions led to the question “Is God an Accident?--the title of the article.
I have just found the answer to a question that has baffled me for years. Why do non-believers love to talk religion? Perhaps talking about religion is much like ‘whistling past the cemetery’.
Everyone loves to talk religion because we are all born with the “gut feeling that there is a body/mind duality. Because we “feel that mind is a “spiritual entity we easily accommodate heaven, soul, god etc.
Science says that this gut feeling is a result of “cognitive functioning gone awry and religion tells us that this is a matter of faith. What do you think?
Paul Bloom informs us that nearly everyone on earth believes in miracles, afterlife, and the creation of the earth by some supernatural power. While doing research into infant behavior, psychologists have recently discovered that humans are born with a predisposition to believe in some supernatural actuality. These scientists conclude that this predisposition is a random happenstance of cognitive functioning gone awry. These conclusions led to the question “Is God an Accident?--the title of the article.
If you can't find a rational answer for something then imagining an answer is the next best thing until you can make sense of it all.
I have just found the answer to a question that has baffled me for years. Why do non-believers love to talk religion? Perhaps talking about religion is much like ‘whistling past the cemetery’.
It's fascinating because it's hard to conceive of anyone really believing such a set of irrational beliefs as the typical religion. You expect common sense to get in the way. It's also dangerous as many religious followers don't like having to think about why they believe and have this urge to hit anyone that makes them think or just simply doesn't agree with them.
“We’ve evolved to be creationists is a quote from the “The Atlantic Monthly article “Is God an Accident?—December 2005 issue.
Paul Bloom, author of the article, informs us that “human beings come into the world with a predisposition to believe in supernatural phenomena¦this predisposition is an incidental by-product of cognitive functioning gone awry.
Paul Bloom informs us that nearly everyone on earth believes in miracles, afterlife, and the creation of the earth by some supernatural power. While doing research into infant behavior, psychologists have recently discovered that humans are born with a predisposition to believe in some supernatural actuality. These scientists conclude that this predisposition is a random happenstance of cognitive functioning gone awry. These conclusions led to the question “Is God an Accident?--the title of the article.
I have just found the answer to a question that has baffled me for years. Why do non-believers love to talk religion? Perhaps talking about religion is much like ‘whistling past the cemetery’.
Everyone loves to talk religion because we are all born with the “gut feeling that there is a body/mind duality. Because we “feel that mind is a “spiritual entity we easily accommodate heaven, soul, god etc.
Science says that this gut feeling is a result of “cognitive functioning gone awry and religion tells us that this is a matter of faith. What do you think?
Paul Bloom informs us that nearly everyone on earth believes in miracles, afterlife, and the creation of the earth by some supernatural power. While doing research into infant behavior, psychologists have recently discovered that humans are born with a predisposition to believe in some supernatural actuality. These scientists conclude that this predisposition is a random happenstance of cognitive functioning gone awry. These conclusions led to the question “Is God an Accident?--the title of the article.
If you can't find a rational answer for something then imagining an answer is the next best thing until you can make sense of it all.
I have just found the answer to a question that has baffled me for years. Why do non-believers love to talk religion? Perhaps talking about religion is much like ‘whistling past the cemetery’.
It's fascinating because it's hard to conceive of anyone really believing such a set of irrational beliefs as the typical religion. You expect common sense to get in the way. It's also dangerous as many religious followers don't like having to think about why they believe and have this urge to hit anyone that makes them think or just simply doesn't agree with them.
We've evolved to be creationists
When written history began five thousand years ago humans had already developed a great deal of knowledge. Much of that knowledge was of a very practical nature such as how to use animal skins for clothing, how to weave wool, how to hunt and fish etc. A large part of human knowledge was directed toward how to kill and torture fellow humans. I guess things never really change all that much.
In several parts of the world civilizations developed wherein people learned to create laws and to rule vast numbers of people. Some measure of peace and stability developed but there was yet no means for securing the people from their rulers. I guess things never really change all that much
Almost everywhere priests joined rulers in attempts to control the population. Despite these continual wars both of external and internal nature the human population managed to flourish. Egypt was probably one of the first long lasting and stable civilizations to grow up along the large rivers. Egypt survived almost unchanged for three thousand years. This success is attributed to its geographical location that gave it freedom from competition and fertile lands that were constantly replenished by the river overflowing its banks and thus depositing new fertile soil for farming.
Western philosophy emerged in the sixth century BC along the Ionian coast. A small group of scientist-philosophers began writing about their attempts to develop “rational accounts regarding human experience. These early Pre-Socratic thinkers thought that they were dealing with fundamental elements of nature.
It is natural for humans to seek knowledge. In the “Metaphysics Aristotle wrote “All men by nature desire to know.
The attempt to seek knowledge presupposes that the world unfolds in a systematic pattern and that we can gain knowledge of that unfolding. Cognitive science identifies several ideas that seem to come naturally to us and labels such ideas as “Folk Theories.
The Folk Theory of the Intelligibility of the World
The world makes systematic sense, and we can gain knowledge of it.
The Folk Theory of General Kinds
Every particular thing is a kind of thing.
The Folk Theory of Essences
Every entity has an “essence or “nature, that is, a collection of properties that makes it the kind of thing it is and that is the causal source of its natural behavior.
The consequences of the two theories of kinds and essences is:
The Foundational Assumption of Metaphysics
Kinds exist and are defined by essences.
We may not want our friends to know this fact but we are all metaphysicians. We, in fact, assume that things have a nature thereby we are led by the metaphysical impulse to seek knowledge at various levels of reality.
Cognitive science has uncovered these ideas they have labeled as Folk Theories. Such theories when compared to sophisticated philosophical theories are like comparing mountain music with classical music. Such theories seem to come naturally to human consciousness.
The information comes primarily from “Philosophy in the Flesh and http://www.wku.edu/~jan.garrett/302/folkmeta.htm
In several parts of the world civilizations developed wherein people learned to create laws and to rule vast numbers of people. Some measure of peace and stability developed but there was yet no means for securing the people from their rulers. I guess things never really change all that much
Almost everywhere priests joined rulers in attempts to control the population. Despite these continual wars both of external and internal nature the human population managed to flourish. Egypt was probably one of the first long lasting and stable civilizations to grow up along the large rivers. Egypt survived almost unchanged for three thousand years. This success is attributed to its geographical location that gave it freedom from competition and fertile lands that were constantly replenished by the river overflowing its banks and thus depositing new fertile soil for farming.
Western philosophy emerged in the sixth century BC along the Ionian coast. A small group of scientist-philosophers began writing about their attempts to develop “rational accounts regarding human experience. These early Pre-Socratic thinkers thought that they were dealing with fundamental elements of nature.
It is natural for humans to seek knowledge. In the “Metaphysics Aristotle wrote “All men by nature desire to know.
The attempt to seek knowledge presupposes that the world unfolds in a systematic pattern and that we can gain knowledge of that unfolding. Cognitive science identifies several ideas that seem to come naturally to us and labels such ideas as “Folk Theories.
The Folk Theory of the Intelligibility of the World
The world makes systematic sense, and we can gain knowledge of it.
The Folk Theory of General Kinds
Every particular thing is a kind of thing.
The Folk Theory of Essences
Every entity has an “essence or “nature, that is, a collection of properties that makes it the kind of thing it is and that is the causal source of its natural behavior.
The consequences of the two theories of kinds and essences is:
The Foundational Assumption of Metaphysics
Kinds exist and are defined by essences.
We may not want our friends to know this fact but we are all metaphysicians. We, in fact, assume that things have a nature thereby we are led by the metaphysical impulse to seek knowledge at various levels of reality.
Cognitive science has uncovered these ideas they have labeled as Folk Theories. Such theories when compared to sophisticated philosophical theories are like comparing mountain music with classical music. Such theories seem to come naturally to human consciousness.
The information comes primarily from “Philosophy in the Flesh and http://www.wku.edu/~jan.garrett/302/folkmeta.htm
We've evolved to be creationists
coberst;639814 wrote: “We’ve evolved to be creationists
Everyone loves to talk religion because we are all born with the “gut feeling that there is a body/mind duality. Because we “feel that mind is a “spiritual entity we easily accommodate heaven, soul, god etc.
Science says that this gut feeling is a result of “cognitive functioning gone awry and religion tells us that this is a matter of faith. What do you think?
Well, I'm a non-believer that does not like to talk religion simply because it brings on unwinnable debate, unfriendly confrontation and often, ostracism.
Everyone loves to talk religion because we are all born with the “gut feeling that there is a body/mind duality. Because we “feel that mind is a “spiritual entity we easily accommodate heaven, soul, god etc.
Science says that this gut feeling is a result of “cognitive functioning gone awry and religion tells us that this is a matter of faith. What do you think?
Well, I'm a non-believer that does not like to talk religion simply because it brings on unwinnable debate, unfriendly confrontation and often, ostracism.
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jugglingmuggles
- Posts: 24
- Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2007 6:12 am
We've evolved to be creationists
coberst;639814 wrote:
Science says that this gut feeling is a result of “cognitive functioning gone awry and religion tells us that this is a matter of faith. What do you think?
Speaking as someone who was an atheist for 29 years - believing we have no non-material existence was just down to ignorance.
We have a predisposition to religion because we are spiritual beings.
Science says that this gut feeling is a result of “cognitive functioning gone awry and religion tells us that this is a matter of faith. What do you think?
Speaking as someone who was an atheist for 29 years - believing we have no non-material existence was just down to ignorance.
We have a predisposition to religion because we are spiritual beings.
We've evolved to be creationists
jugglingmuggles;641289 wrote: Speaking as someone who was an atheist for 29 years - believing we have no non-material existence was just down to ignorance.
We have a predisposition to religion because we are spiritual beings.
Then we must ask what is a spiritual being? Is your confidence in the truth of that statement a matter of faith?
We have a predisposition to religion because we are spiritual beings.
Then we must ask what is a spiritual being? Is your confidence in the truth of that statement a matter of faith?
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jugglingmuggles
- Posts: 24
- Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2007 6:12 am
We've evolved to be creationists
coberst;641303 wrote: Then we must ask what is a spiritual being? Is your confidence in the truth of that statement a matter of faith?
How would you define a spiritual being?
No - it's a matter of personal knowledge based on 1st hand experience.
How would you define a spiritual being?
No - it's a matter of personal knowledge based on 1st hand experience.
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Singh-Song
- Posts: 119
- Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2007 2:49 pm
We've evolved to be creationists
There are a lot of atheists on this thread. Speaking as someone who isn't, I'd just like to ask why atheists always try to present religion as nothing more than a 'set of irrational beliefs'; when, if you set science off against religion today- Which is more irrational? Every cutting edge scientific theory today emphasises a universe of purely random events, in short, of Chaos. The story of the universe, as put forward by modern, monotheistic religions, may be over-simplified, but at least we get some semblance of order, of meaning. Likewise, the concept of the immortal soul is indispensible to a society of order. If we die the moment brain-activity ceases, then logically why should anything matter other than pure self-interest? It is impossible to prove or disprove the existence of an all-present, all seeing, all powerful God. Why do so many ridicule those who disbelieve their egotistical notion of Mankind being the highest force in existence?
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Singh-Song
- Posts: 119
- Joined: Sun Jun 24, 2007 2:49 pm
We've evolved to be creationists
And, by the way, if COBERST is so adamantly critical of spirituality in his earlier posts, then why does he list his Zodiac Sign in his profile? Surely that indicates some belief in Astrology...
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jugglingmuggles
- Posts: 24
- Joined: Tue Jun 19, 2007 6:12 am
We've evolved to be creationists
Singh-Song;652113 wrote: There are a lot of atheists on this thread. Speaking as someone who isn't, I'd just like to ask why atheists always try to present religion as nothing more than a 'set of irrational beliefs'; when, if you set science off against religion today- Which is more irrational? Every cutting edge scientific theory today emphasises a universe of purely random events, in short, of Chaos. The story of the universe, as put forward by modern, monotheistic religions, may be over-simplified, but at least we get some semblance of order, of meaning. Likewise, the concept of the immortal soul is indispensible to a society of order. If we die the moment brain-activity ceases, then logically why should anything matter other than pure self-interest? It is impossible to prove or disprove the existence of an all-present, all seeing, all powerful God. Why do so many ridicule those who disbelieve their egotistical notion of Mankind being the highest force in existence?
Good post. I would say that there are many scientists who don't think the universe was created by a purely random series of events, and some who come to that conclusion after their experiemental observations tell them just how unlikely that is.
But the reason people ridicule it is because of "karma". Basically we are good and when we do something bad we tend to try to hide it and forget it. For most people a new body is a time to start afresh and forget the things they have done in previous lives that they are ashamed of. And whilst nearly all of us successfully forget the details of the bad things we've done on a conscious level, it remains on an unconscious level and reduces our emotional serenity. Every time we do something bad it restimulates these hidden memories and makes us feel bad. But if we continuously work for good these hidden memories get restimulated less often.
So many people have an aversion to the idea of reincarnation or immortality, though most will deny they have any emotional reaction and believe they are being purely logical.
You can make an estimate of a person's accumulated bad karma by how they react to the idea of reincarnation - those with the most will ridicule the hardest and most offensively. Of course those with less bad karma won't feel the need to riducule others about this at all.
Good post. I would say that there are many scientists who don't think the universe was created by a purely random series of events, and some who come to that conclusion after their experiemental observations tell them just how unlikely that is.
But the reason people ridicule it is because of "karma". Basically we are good and when we do something bad we tend to try to hide it and forget it. For most people a new body is a time to start afresh and forget the things they have done in previous lives that they are ashamed of. And whilst nearly all of us successfully forget the details of the bad things we've done on a conscious level, it remains on an unconscious level and reduces our emotional serenity. Every time we do something bad it restimulates these hidden memories and makes us feel bad. But if we continuously work for good these hidden memories get restimulated less often.
So many people have an aversion to the idea of reincarnation or immortality, though most will deny they have any emotional reaction and believe they are being purely logical.
You can make an estimate of a person's accumulated bad karma by how they react to the idea of reincarnation - those with the most will ridicule the hardest and most offensively. Of course those with less bad karma won't feel the need to riducule others about this at all.