tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375512083268389933.post7111151323588817850..comments2023-09-30T10:36:23.154-05:00Comments on Accidental Historian: AtF: Inconceivable!Gedshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15047239425466517786noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375512083268389933.post-62297748405370881822009-06-03T09:38:31.881-05:002009-06-03T09:38:31.881-05:00Thank you, jessa. That's, um, that's well...Thank you, jessa. That's, um, that's well above and beyond the call of duty.<br /><br />I like the distinction you draw between apprehending and understanding. I think it fits in nicely with the idea of the scientific drive and attempting to peel back what we think we know and get to true knowledge.<br /><br />I'm also ever more convinced that Cooper is setting a straw-Lucretius alight in that section. It reminds me of high school Humanities class wherein a bunch of 17- and 18-year olds sat around picking apart philosophers because those philosophers were trying to figure out how we could actually know the nature of reality. We thought we were so damn smart back then. But I'm pretty sure people will still be reading the words of David Hume in a hundred years an no one will be reading the words of 18-year old Geds...<br /><br />And you're probably right that he's not actually reading the stuff he's quoting. I ran in to a lot of Christians who quoted second- or third-hand about things they themselves had not bothered to read. I think that's reason #1,506 on the list of reasons my days as a Christian were numbered as soon as I became a halfway decent historian.Gedshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15047239425466517786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375512083268389933.post-11358492565276746572009-06-01T10:50:48.238-05:002009-06-01T10:50:48.238-05:00jessa:
If it makes you feel any better, this was ...jessa:<br /><br />If it makes you feel any better, this was - by far - the hardest section for me to figure out. It really didn't help that I simply could not find out what Lucretius actually said.<br /><br />I really don't feel that my surrounding points were tangents, however. The overall point is that science has borne out the intelligence of the claims of Cooper's (straw?) Lucretius. Continuing to rely wholly on senses limits our ability to grow in knowledge and forces us to remain enslaved to the superstitious nonsense that comes from our own minds.Gedshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15047239425466517786noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3375512083268389933.post-41372770129051576302009-06-01T10:11:25.454-05:002009-06-01T10:11:25.454-05:00Beyond that, we can't really trust ourselves entir...Beyond that, we can't really trust ourselves entirely for safety and getting through the day- look at all the idiots that kill themselves in spectacularly bizarre ways. Clearly they couldn't be trusted with their own safety.PersonalFailurehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03034292023591747601noreply@blogger.com