Re: holy figgledischnucks
J J R (jrovira@juno.com)
Fri, 23 Oct 1998 16:47:06 -0400 (EDT)
Gawd, More thought! I'm suffering a vertiable feast here!
On Fri, 23 Oct 1998 10:01:49 -0700 Sean Draine <seandr@microsoft.com>
writes:
>
>Since the death of Logical Positivism in the 50's, most take for
>granted
>that scientific and philosophical investigations of the universe can
>not be
>based solely on formal logic. That is, any statement about the
>universe is
>necessarily based on some set of unprovable assumptions.
>
THANK YOU FOR YOUR HONESTY
>If agnosticism is really grounded in avoiding the logical pitfalls of
>universal negation, then agnostics must also entertain the possible
>existence of unicorns, Hercules, Munchkins, and of course our beloved
>Santa
>Claus. That's not to mention figgledischnucks, lapsteins,
>bhygghnnudts, and
>any other creatures I might invent on the fly. Anyone who answers "I
>don't
>know" to the question "Do figgledischnucks exist?" is just being silly
>as
>far as I'm concerned. And, I guess I'm not sure what the difference is
>between theories of God's existence and theories of the existence of
>figgledischnucks.
>
>-Sean
>
>
Your comparison would be valid if everyone believed in God for the same
reason that your imaginary person believed in figgledischnucks (I met one
yesterday, by the way, and showed him your post just now. He got VERY
ANGRY, stomped around with all six of his feet then drank the night away
on warm milk. It was a very, very sad sight.)
The thing is, most of the people I know that sincerely and deeply believe
in God do so because of what they believe is a personal experience with
God. I believe you exist because I'm responding to e-mail from you. I
believe my wife exists because, well, she just walked in the door and set
a plate of food on the table next to my computer. In other words, I have
had a personal experience of some kind. Myself and a LOT of other people
believe in God for much the same reasons, and don't expect anyone else to
unless they share that experience.
Now, you can always explain away the experience, but then, that'd just be
an expression of your faith, no? It would be another unproven
assumption. Freud employed this kind of reasoning in a very
self-contradictory essay that defined religion as wish-fulfillment. But
atheism, for that matter, could be a wish-fulfillment dream. There have
been plenty of times in my life I was a LOT more comfortable with the
idea of nothingness than with the idea of facing Divine judgment--in some
ways, I still feel that way now.
Jim
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