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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (77983)	10/21/2003 12:36:39 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 82486

it makes the most sense to recognize that we can't possibly know and leave it at that rather than to rationalize either belief. If that's really rational, then total skepticism is the only way to live, since there is no way to know anything. You can't know that you exist, Descartes notwithstanding. You can't know that when you put your foot down to walk forward you won't step into a black hole in space. You can't know whether the apple you're about to eat is a real apple or is a bomb concocted by the CIA to murder you. You can't know . . . anything. So if certainty of knowledge is really your criteria, then it's impossible for you to live. But you do live, so you make many assumptions based on the most rational analysis of what you believe that you perceive and understand. That being the case, it is not rational to exclude from that process the most fundamental questions of life.

To: Lane3 who wrote (77983)	10/21/2003 1:00:48 PM
From: Neocon	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 82486

Knowledge and belief are two different things. If there is nothing compelling assent, then one is free to believe as one chooses. That does not preclude further examination or refinement, it just means that one has a starting point. No reasoning can begin without assumptions...........

To: Lane3 who wrote (77983)	10/21/2003 4:03:08 PM
From: epicure	Respond to of 82486

Leaps of faith- whether to believe in a God, or to absolutely not believe in one, are inherently irrational- this is why they require "faith". If faith did not require "faith" it would not be faith- but to try to have your faith, and also call it logic, is to lie, imo. Not that there is anything inherently wrong with lying to yourself, or to others, but when you tell a very silly lie to yourself, and expect other people to believe it too, well, that too is a leap of faith, I think. :-)