Aint No Right

Bandit72 wrote:You seem to be very au fait with the Bible

I'm a heretic atheist (Spinozist) philosopher. I abide by the dictum made famous by one de la Rocha: "Know your enemy." (Otherwise known as Kafka's maxim: "Only read things you disagree with.")

Adurentibus Spina wrote:

Bandit72 wrote:You seem to be very au fait with the Bible

I'm a heretic atheist (Spinozist) philosopher. I abide by the dictum made famous by one de la Rocha: "Know your enemy." (Otherwise known as Kafka's maxim: "Only read things you disagree with.")

I largely agree with this however you must have/have had a lot of time on your hands to analyse the bible

Bandit72 wrote:

Adurentibus Spina wrote:

Bandit72 wrote:You seem to be very au fait with the Bible

I'm a heretic atheist (Spinozist) philosopher. I abide by the dictum made famous by one de la Rocha: "Know your enemy." (Otherwise known as Kafka's maxim: "Only read things you disagree with.")

I largely agree with this however you must have/have had a lot of time on your hands to analyse the bible

I was a precocious reader. I read the entire stupid thing when I was 9, and then chose to go to a Catholic high school, out of curiosity, wherein the 'know your enemy' thought took on a much more 'live' role than it had before. (In retrospect, going to a public high school would have been much better in many ways... ), so I re-read it then. The sheer volume of hypocrisy there is one of the things that solidified my anti-religious/anti-theistic views. I also tend not to be able to forget things I've read. It's a great thing, except that I think it came at the expense of remembering names and faces of people I meet.

Spinoza also wrote one of the first works of biblical criticism, the Theological Political Treatise, which I have read many times over, so there's that. It's a highly readable book, if you're ever interested and have some time.

I may just read that, cheers for the heads up. I went to a church of England primary school, and we didn't get any kind of religion rammed down our throats. Just the usual Christmas nativity and harvest festivals at Easter. And at that age I didn't really think anything of it. Secondary school I did two years of religious education and had finished that by the time I was 13/14. It's funny, I only ever used to read fiction when I was younger, now I only read factual books. I can't remember the last time I read a work of fiction. Probably four or five years ago. I appreciate there are great authors and novels ou there, but I think the older I'm getting the more I want to learn.

Bandit72 wrote:I may just read that, cheers for the heads up. I went to a church of England primary school, and we didn't get any kind of religion rammed down our throats. Just the usual Christmas nativity and harvest festivals at Easter. And at that age I didn't really think anything of it. Secondary school I did two years of religious education and had finished that by the time I was 13/14. It's funny, I only ever used to read fiction when I was younger, now I only read factual books. I can't remember the last time I read a work of fiction. Probably four or five years ago. I appreciate there are great authors and novels ou there, but I think the older I'm getting the more I want to learn.

The Theological Political Treatise is a factual book, so you should be fine.

I have the same problem with fiction. I've read probably a thousand-or-two books in the past decade, but almost all of them are philosophy. The only fiction I've read has been almost entirely for German Literature courses I had to take...

German? Interesting. Is that personal choice? I did three years of German and that was it, always found it difficult. I find the Romanic languages a lot easier. I went out with a Dutch girl years ago and that language was/is harder than German!

Bandit72 wrote:German? Interesting. Is that personal choice? I did three years of German and that was it, always found it difficult. I find the Romanic languages a lot easier. I went out with a Dutch girl years ago and that language was/is harder than German!

It was a bad choice. Turns out I need to know Latin and Greek far more than German. But it's useful in that I can use the grammar skills I picked up for the declension stuff to more easily learn the ones I do need to know. German literature is amazing though... G.E. Lessing and Georg Büchner are probably my favourite.

I've been hearing about a new book which may be of interest. It's called the Science Delusion by Rupert Sheldrake. (Not the Wilberg book) I'm particularly interested in the part he writes about his experiments with pets. Not those kinds of experiments, but ones which test the "6th sense" or psychic power of dogs and cats if you like. He was on the radio this morning stating he'd done literally thousands of tests to show how dogs, not all dogs mind, used to know when their owners would be home. Coming home at different times, different distances, different cars, using taxis etc... I'm only mentioning this because I guess it's kind of paranormal and possibly doesn't adhere to "science" as we know it. Although in the animal world maybe it is normal?

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 85286.html

Bandit72 wrote:I've been hearing about a new book which may be of interest. It's called the Science Delusion by Rupert Sheldrake. (Not the Wilberg book) I'm particularly interested in the part he writes about his experiments with pets. Not those kinds of experiments, but ones which test the "6th sense" or psychic power of dogs and cats if you like. He was on the radio this morning stating he'd done literally thousands of tests to show how dogs, not all dogs mind, used to know when their owners would be home. Coming home at different times, different distances, different cars, using taxis etc... I'm only mentioning this because I guess it's kind of paranormal and possibly doesn't adhere to "science" as we know it. Although in the animal world maybe it is normal?

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 85286.html

I've heard Sheldrake talk before. It might be an interesting and enjoyable read, but it would be tough for me... the arguments aren't that good. His objections to, e.g., "the dogma of mechanism" are amateurish, at best. The author of that article name-drops Spinoza... but wrongly: "Then again, some of the greatest philosophers, including Baruch Spinoza and AN Whitehead, have argued in various ways that consciousness is not confined to our brains." NOT TRUE. Spinoza specifically says: "My mind is the idea of my body." There is a difference, for Spinoza, between 'ideas' and consciousness.

These are like online lectures! Keep 'em coming

I've seen footage of those dog experiments. They are interesting. The results could be compelling, but it's my strong suspicion that were the experiments properly designed and conducted, the phenomenon could be explained without any supernatural silliness.

For many years there was a million dollar prize on the table (from the James Randi Foundation) for anyone who could display anything even remotely supernatural, no matter how trivial, and nobody could. So, I suggest reading about James Randi, because the man knows how to construct a study outside of the realm of medicine or hard science, and he has loads of stories about how all sorts of claimants were proven to be either lying or delusion. Randi's book Flim Flam is good, if at times a bit dated. As I've said many times, the best populist book on this stuff, by a wide margin, is Carl Sagan's The Demon Haunted World.

Jasper wrote: it's my strong suspicion that were the experiments properly designed and conducted, the phenomenon could be explained without any supernatural silliness.

I rule it out a priori as incoherent. There is no such thing as 'supernatural' anything. I have good arguments for that that almost no empiricists accept. So much the worse for empiricism.

Fox News host Bill O’Reilly loses custody of his children after alleged domestic violence incident

Mr O’Reilly’s 17-year-old daughter told a court-appointed forensic examiner last year that she saw her father dragging her mother down a staircase by the neck.

Shame. I wonder what Jesus thinks of him now?


http://www.independent.co.uk/news/peopl ... 04336.html

I thought Bill O'Reilly killed Jesus... http://killingjesusthebook.com/