Post tagged with Richard Dawkins

  • Dawkins’ infinite regress and why it really matters

    May 23rd, 201110:13 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Over the last several days I have launched several important charges against Richard Dawkins' letter to his daughter . These critiques have been, for the most part, simply ignored by the many enthusiasic Dawkins apologists who have lept to his defense this week. So I am going to slow right down and lay out a fundamental critique more fully. I will...

  • ‘Dawkins was Wrong.’ Come on, say it. Say it!

    May 20th, 201111:22 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    For those of you who, like me, were raised on a diet of "Happy Days" back in the seventies you will remember that the Fonz could not say "I was wrong". Whenever he was expected to he would mumble and stutter and stumble over his admission, much to the delight of the viewing audience. I thought of that this last day as I have read Beetle's comments...

  • Richard Dawkins’ foolish advice to his daughter

    May 19th, 201102:52 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Thanks to Beetle for linking us to Richard Dawkins' advice to his then ten year old daughter. I call it foolish because any advice that is self-referentially defeating is foolish. First, Dawkins tells his daughter: "Something that you learn by direct seeing (or hearing or feeling...) is called an observation. Often evidence isn't just observatio...

  • Why there is nothing wrong with being certain in your beliefs

    May 16th, 201110:45 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    These days one often encounters the idea that being certain about a belief — i.e. having unshakeable conviction in its truth — is somehow worriesome, dangerous, or otherwise threatening. This is how Richard Dawkins puts it: "religion causes wars by generating certainty."(Cited in Avalos, Fighting Words, 177). Second, in Does the Bible justify...

  • Why no professional philosopher would use Dawkins’ argument

    April 18th, 201102:36 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    I have been accused of being unfair to Dick Dawkins. Well let's look at what Dawkins calls "the central argument of my book" (The God Delusion, 187). He summarizes it in six steps. Steps 4-6 are not directly relevant to the core of the argument against God, so I've only reproduced steps 1-3 (see The God Delusion, 188): 1. One of the greatest chall...

  • Why Richard Dawkins can't be the world's leading atheist

    September 10th, 201005:59 PM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Richard Dawkins is widely touted as the world’s leading atheist. Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t. I suppose there’s no easy way to settle the matter. (Counting numbers of books sold or google hits seems a bit arbitrary, no?) But then again, maybe there is a way to settle the matter... William Lane Craig is generally acclaimed as the world’s l...

  • Atheist faith-heads, naturally

    October 22nd, 200911:41 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Most theists are not "plain theists". Rather, they embed their theism within a wider worldview perspective such as Christianity, Islam, or deism. By the same token, most atheists are not plain atheists. Instead they embed their atheism within a wider worldview perspective: that which is commonly called "naturalism". As such, it is worthwhile not on...

  • It's just like Nazi Germany...

    September 30th, 200908:56 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Last week a youtube video gained widespread notoriety for depicting elementary school students singing a cute, pro-Obama ditty. One parent frantically complained to the media that it was just like Nazi Germany indoctrinating the children. Funny, I remember Naomi Wolf arguing a couple years ago (in the bestseller The End of America: Letter of Warni...

  • Yes, even Nobel laureates can be irrational

    September 04th, 200911:19 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    In my last post I pointed out that Susan_vD's charge that belief in God is irrational (simpliciter) sweeps up many highly intelligent people in its irrationality net, including theistic Nobel laureates. Hence the incredulity of my title, "Irrational Nobel Laureates? Really?" But actually there is nothing that shocking about Nobel laureates being i...

  • Why is it so hard to deconvert a "faith-head"?

    September 02nd, 200912:26 AM ET
    By Randal Rauser
    Richard Dawkins has been accused of being a fundamentalist. He takes issue with the charge: "No, please, it is all too easy to mistake passion that can change its mind for fundamentalism, which never will." So Dawkins is not a fundamentalist because he remains open minded. Pardon me for being skeptical, but does anybody really believe that it is a...
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An exploration of faith, knowledge, reason and doubt (with the occasional trite pop culture reference thrown in for good measure).