The Enlightenment - roll it back or forward?

[jediuser598]

How about this one:

Something exists rather than nothing.

What if we're a simulation?

Then the simulation exists.

[Speaker to Animals]

This seems to be your argument:

1. Religious predisposition of our species is an evolutionary adaptation to increase social cohesion.

2. The subject of religions, however, is false, since the material world is all that exists and physical science can explain all there is to explain about existence.

3. We can trust that the semi-random process of evolution (which we know promotes only those genetic adaptation s that increase reproductive success) somehow selected traits which give us the ability to know the truth through reason.


Can you not see the contradiction here?

[Zlaxer]

No doubt we evolved some form of intelligence through evolution, but the development of higher intellect and reasoning took place outside of natural selection. The basis was there, but we didn’t really learn how to run with it until we removed ourselves from the food chain.

Again - how is human intellect not a product of evolution?


Perhaps you need to rephrase your posit.

Again - How is any living thing, or thing made by a living thing, not a product of evolution?

“Evolution” implies a genetic change from natural selection. I’d say that we Evolved the ability to reason, but we Adapted the higher cognition once we were removed from Selection.

Many other animals have evolved reason as well, but never achieved our level of intelligence, because we escaped the food chain.

[jediuser598]

And a universe reduced to rational materialism is most certainly an abstract and empty place to live.

But what if it's true?

Should I throw away truth because it doesn't make me happy?

Measurable facts are not going to help you here...
The inner world of psychospiritual growth and the community that this develops in can only be known subjectively.
It is a felt experience of connecting to something greater than the ego.
Once this happens it is plain on it's face that the universe isn't abstract and empty.

And why should anyone throw that away because it is not objectively measurable... that would be ridiculous.

If there exists no such thing as the spirit, how can the spiritual exist?

[Zlaxer]

Errgggg......php not doing well on iPhone -



I said - perhaps you need to rephrase your posit.

[DrYouth]

Religion serves the purpose of social stability - enforced social norms, and structure. A magical all-seeing penalty enforcer was a valuable thing before States became powerful enough to take over that role.

This was the view of god in the mythic/agrarian stage of development...
We can move beyond this stage now.
Just like children have a different idea of spirituality than adults.
Their view isn't "wrong", it's simply their best approximation... as our perspective broadens we can think about the divine in broader ways.

Unfortunately modernity and postmodernity have tended to flatten out our worldview to what it objectively measurable or lost it's way in cultural relativism... so we aren't very far ahead.

[DrYouth]

If there exists no such thing as the spirit, how can the spiritual exist?

Who says there exists no such thing as the spirit?

[Okeefenokee]

That's not what it means.

It's weird how folks are so wired against recognizing the consequences of their actions that they can't see who's responsible for all of this.

Please enlighten us.

It's the golden calf. I'll talk more later if you want. I'm on my phone.

[SuburbanFarmer]

Errgggg......php not doing well on iPhone -



I said - perhaps you need to rephrase your posit.

You could say that our higher intellect is a product of evolution, in the same way as a spreadsheet is the product of electrons. It’s factually true in a sense, but it’s not the whole story.

If everything we are is simply evolution, then so is everything we do.

[Okeefenokee]

No. That's completely false.