I feel I should also point out that I was, and am, well aware that Sam Harris is an anti-theist in philosophy, and my indicated source was supposed to be Harris’s “Letter To a Christian Nation,” indicated by my use of his name and Letter. The source I provided might cause confusion, but the Letter is provided in full and was the source I meant to indicate. There’s no mistake that it’s meant to be an atheist perspective, but if I somehow implied otherwise instead of leaving the point unaddressed as I thought than that’s my fault as an inexperienced writer. If there are any more structure, grammar, spelling, or syntax errors, I can only hope it doesn’t hopelessly obscure the actual point I was trying to make.
I think you might still be confused about your source, actually, because nowhere in there is Sam Harris’s Letter to a Christian Nation provided in full. The “Letter” is actually a 150 page book, and the link you’ve provided is a review of that book by the literary critic James Wood. The views on Russell’s teapot that you attribute to Harris are actually the views of Wood. Harris’s book doesn’t even mention the teapot, as far as I can tell.
That said, I think the substantive point you’re making is a good one, and I can see why the Shiny Can metaphor works better than the teapot if the intent is to highlight the specific ridiculousness of the God hypothesis.
Fixed. All being the same, it’s true my real focus was the teapot metaphor, but I should have been more careful with vetting my source. Thanks for pointing it out again, and for reading my metaphor.
I feel I should also point out that I was, and am, well aware that Sam Harris is an anti-theist in philosophy, and my indicated source was supposed to be Harris’s “Letter To a Christian Nation,” indicated by my use of his name and Letter. The source I provided might cause confusion, but the Letter is provided in full and was the source I meant to indicate. There’s no mistake that it’s meant to be an atheist perspective, but if I somehow implied otherwise instead of leaving the point unaddressed as I thought than that’s my fault as an inexperienced writer. If there are any more structure, grammar, spelling, or syntax errors, I can only hope it doesn’t hopelessly obscure the actual point I was trying to make.
I think you might still be confused about your source, actually, because nowhere in there is Sam Harris’s Letter to a Christian Nation provided in full. The “Letter” is actually a 150 page book, and the link you’ve provided is a review of that book by the literary critic James Wood. The views on Russell’s teapot that you attribute to Harris are actually the views of Wood. Harris’s book doesn’t even mention the teapot, as far as I can tell.
That said, I think the substantive point you’re making is a good one, and I can see why the Shiny Can metaphor works better than the teapot if the intent is to highlight the specific ridiculousness of the God hypothesis.
Fixed. All being the same, it’s true my real focus was the teapot metaphor, but I should have been more careful with vetting my source. Thanks for pointing it out again, and for reading my metaphor.