>Thus, I think that the process is relatively reliable but not totally reliable.
Absolutely. That’s exactly right.
>My Christian friend claimed that atheists/rationalists/skeptics/evolutionists cannot trust even their own reason (beacuse it is the product of their imperfect brains in their opinion).
It sounds like there’s a conflation between ‘trust’ and ‘absolute trust’. Clearly we have some useful notion of trust because we can navigate potentially dangerous situations relatively safely. So using plain language its false to say that atheists can’t trust their own judgement. Clearly they can in some situations. Are you saying atheists can’t climb a ladder safely?
It sounds like he wants something to trust in absolutely. Has he faced the possibility that that might just not exist?
>Thus, I think that the process is relatively reliable but not totally reliable.
Absolutely. That’s exactly right.
>My Christian friend claimed that atheists/rationalists/skeptics/evolutionists cannot trust even their own reason (beacuse it is the product of their imperfect brains in their opinion).
It sounds like there’s a conflation between ‘trust’ and ‘absolute trust’. Clearly we have some useful notion of trust because we can navigate potentially dangerous situations relatively safely. So using plain language its false to say that atheists can’t trust their own judgement. Clearly they can in some situations. Are you saying atheists can’t climb a ladder safely?
It sounds like he wants something to trust in absolutely. Has he faced the possibility that that might just not exist?