More on Richard Dawkins
Note (08/20/2013): For context, this is an infodump I made before reading "The God Delusion", but after reading an article about the Dawkins scale.
This continues from yesterday's post. Bit of a wikipedia dump.
Richard Dawkins The God Delusion
Quotes from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_God_Delusion unless otherwise mentioned.
Dawkins dedicates the book to Douglas Adams and quotes the novelist: "Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?"
Points for the Douglas Adams dedication.
Since there are a number of different theistic ideas relating to the nature of God(s), Dawkins defines the concept of God that he wishes to address early in the book. Dawkins distinguishes between an abstract, impersonal god (such as found in pantheism, or as promoted by Spinoza or Einstein) from a personal God who is the creator of the universe, who is interested in human affairs, and who should be worshiped.
So what exactly does Einstein believe?
Einstein's views about religious belief have been collected from interviews and original writings. These views covered Judaism, theological determinism, agnosticism, and humanism. He also wrote much about ethical culture, opting for Spinoza's god over belief in a personal god.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein
Spinoza?
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spinozism
In Spinozism, the concept of a personal relationship with God comes from the position that one is a part of an infinite interdependent "organism". Spinoza taught that everything is but a wave in an endless ocean, and that what happens to one wave will affect other waves. Thus Spinozism teaches a form of determinism and ecology and supports this as a basis for morality.
Additionally, a core doctrine of Spinozism is that the universe is essentially deterministic. All that happens or will happen could not have unfolded in any other way. Spinozism is closely related to the Hindu doctrines of Samkhya and Yoga. Spinoza claimed that the third kind of knowledge, intuition, is the highest kind attainable.
Okay, that was headache inducing. Back to Dawkins.
Dawkins does not claim to disprove God with absolute certainty. Instead, he suggests as a general principle that simpler explanations are preferable (see Occam's razor), and that an omniscient and omnipotent God must be extremely complex. As such he argues that the theory of a universe without a God is preferable to the theory of a universe with a God.
Occam's Razor -- thumbs up.
He then turns to the subject of morality, maintaining that we do not need religion to be good. Instead, our morality has a Darwinian explanation: altruistic genes, selected through the process of evolution, give people natural empathy. He asks, "would you commit murder, rape or robbery if you knew that no God existed?" He argues that very few people would answer "yes", undermining the claim that religion is needed to make us behave morally. In support of this view, he surveys the history of morality, arguing that there is a moral Zeitgeist that continually evolves in society, generally progressing toward liberalism.
*nods*
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawkins_Scale
1. Strong theist. 100 per cent probability of God. In the words of C.G. Jung: "I do not believe, I know."
So, according to Wikipedia, Jung was a strong theist.
I've followed a lot of Jung's personality work, as it lead to Myers-Briggs. And he's got a ton of quotes I love, but I had no idea he was religious. Keep meaning to pick up one of his books.
Going back to those quotes from the original article.
The bigthink.com article pegs Einstein as an agnostic.
Pegs Thomas Jefferson and Mark Twain as somewhere between an agnostic and a weak atheist.
Pegs Carl Sagan as somewhere between a weak atheist and a de facto atheist.
And the wikipedia article pegs Jung as a strong theist.
So the men I quote the most (among "famous" people) are mostly agnostics or weak atheists with a strong theist thrown in the mix. Hmmmm.
Oh, and I suppose based on the dedication, Douglas Adams at least a de facto atheist. Never really got through his non-fiction writing. Adore "Hitchhiker's".
I wonder how Dawkins would peg Jared based on 30STM lyrics. I'd go grab some lyrics, but my brain is ready to shut off for the night. Maybe tomorrow.
Of the new tags, flow = get into writing and loose track of time
AND geek_alert = subject matter that gets me excited, wanting to know more.