I wish that negative scores would show on the top of posts so that I could quantify just how unpopular this post was. I speculate that the main reason that I am down-voted is because people didn’t like my definitions. However, my bad definitions just support the main argument of my post which is that it is difficult for a newcomer to figure out what you are talking about. (As suggested, I could go ‘read the classics’ for a few years and come back … but I trust that is not required or expected.)
A negative scoring also indicates to me that my push for rigorous definitions as a precondition for discussion is not met with enthusiasm. I’m simultaneously disappointed and accepting of this. While I would prefer to know what you are talking about, I understand that much (arguably, more) progress can be made by proceeding organically; allowing the definitions to shift from speaker to speaker and argument to argument.
I speculate that the main reason that I am down-voted is because people didn’t like my definitions.
I didn’t up-vote or down-vote you, but I do believe that your definitions don’t really capture the nature of the thing we’re discussing. It’s tempting to seek pithy definitions for our important concepts, but if it doesn’t draw the right boundary around the instances we care about, it’s not a good definition. I mean, depending on how you construe your premises, it looks like you’ve left out Occamian priors and Bayesian induction from your original definition. A genuine positivist would assent to your definition, but most of this community doesn’t think you can get anywhere without those pieces. And there may well be more; rationality may be a slightly messy Art.
Secondly: I think we know where you’re going with your concept of weak rationality. You’re hoping that you’re still permitted to believe in a vast unjustified theory, so long as you can’t find a knock-down counterargument. The moral around here is: Don’t ask what you’re permitted to believe or what you’re forced to believe. Just try to see which way the evidence runs.
All that being said, your post has an abundance of good-faith (no pun intended) toward those of us who see atheism as the clear right answer. Whether you stay theist or not, I for one am glad you’re around.
Thank you. You’re right, I do not see atheism as the clear right answer. I look forward to understanding this point of view. I would rather have left this undefined for the sake of my rhetorical position, but I am probably not really a theist: I feel neutral about the existence of God.
Don’t ask what you’re permitted to believe or what you’re forced to believe.
That’s exactly what interests me! But as a precise answer seems out of reach, I will try and be more oblique in my evidence-gathering.
I wish that negative scores would show on the top of posts so that I could quantify just how unpopular this post was. I speculate that the main reason that I am down-voted is because people didn’t like my definitions. However, my bad definitions just support the main argument of my post which is that it is difficult for a newcomer to figure out what you are talking about. (As suggested, I could go ‘read the classics’ for a few years and come back … but I trust that is not required or expected.)
A negative scoring also indicates to me that my push for rigorous definitions as a precondition for discussion is not met with enthusiasm. I’m simultaneously disappointed and accepting of this. While I would prefer to know what you are talking about, I understand that much (arguably, more) progress can be made by proceeding organically; allowing the definitions to shift from speaker to speaker and argument to argument.
I didn’t up-vote or down-vote you, but I do believe that your definitions don’t really capture the nature of the thing we’re discussing. It’s tempting to seek pithy definitions for our important concepts, but if it doesn’t draw the right boundary around the instances we care about, it’s not a good definition. I mean, depending on how you construe your premises, it looks like you’ve left out Occamian priors and Bayesian induction from your original definition. A genuine positivist would assent to your definition, but most of this community doesn’t think you can get anywhere without those pieces. And there may well be more; rationality may be a slightly messy Art.
Secondly: I think we know where you’re going with your concept of weak rationality. You’re hoping that you’re still permitted to believe in a vast unjustified theory, so long as you can’t find a knock-down counterargument. The moral around here is: Don’t ask what you’re permitted to believe or what you’re forced to believe. Just try to see which way the evidence runs.
All that being said, your post has an abundance of good-faith (no pun intended) toward those of us who see atheism as the clear right answer. Whether you stay theist or not, I for one am glad you’re around.
Thank you. You’re right, I do not see atheism as the clear right answer. I look forward to understanding this point of view. I would rather have left this undefined for the sake of my rhetorical position, but I am probably not really a theist: I feel neutral about the existence of God.
That’s exactly what interests me! But as a precise answer seems out of reach, I will try and be more oblique in my evidence-gathering.
I agree partially: such scores should at least be visible to the original poster.
However, even without that feature, you may still be able to work out the net vote by seeing how badly your karma was affected, if at all.