I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!
Letter to Michael Shermer re. a statement he made in The Skeptic's Society online newsletter. In essence, he stated that one can't "believe" in scientific fact; that since it is fact, it is in a different category than say, magic, religion, paranormal gaubldiguk, stuff like that.
Michael,
While I can fully understand your point of view (or at least I think I do) with regards to "believing in gravity," it seems amazingly naive (especially for someone with your mental horsepower)to think that arguement could ever be used, successfully, in any sort of fair-minded debate. After all, to a "believer," (a group to which I do not belong)what is the difference between subscribing to a theory, and then using that theory as the basis for further work and study and more theories, and so on and so forth?
Indeed, to say you "don't believe in evolution" is for all practical purposes like EXACTLY like saying you don't believe in ghosts, or God, or the universally accepted mechanics of a cumulus cloud.
Yes, yes, of course I understand the difference between blind faith and the "faith" one develops after a thorough investigation eliminating any reasonable doubts confirms a theory. Unfortunately, however, most of us bolt-turners, keyboard-punchers, congressthings and pretty much 99.999% of us simply do not the time, nor the technical wherewithal to investigate our electric bill, much less read Darwin's Origin of Species (I actually tried a couple of times). I've read enough on the subject to convince me that it is, to date, the best explanation for how species change; but, sadly, even though I've heard there is indeed physical evidence---transitional fossils---and I do actually believe they exist, I've yet to lay my hands one (with the exception of every living thing I've ever come into contact with, of course, since we're all transitional, for a while, anyway, till
something better comes along).
Anyhow, before I digress into some meaningless pseudophilosophical noodlings...I just wanted to point out that it reallys seems to me that your choice of words should reflect that there are different "levels" of belief, rather than trying to eliminate the concept from the skeptic's vocabulary altogether.
Mars Manito
PS: I'm also an unborn-again former bike racer. I grew up in the
Assemblies of God, and if it hadn't been for my beautiful, wonderful,
loving, agnostic wife, who just couldn't even fathom how I could believe
anything so patently ridiculous---well, I'd probably writing some
obnoxiously clueless letter to you, or some other heathen, instead. Keep
up the good work.
Michael,
While I can fully understand your point of view (or at least I think I do) with regards to "believing in gravity," it seems amazingly naive (especially for someone with your mental horsepower)to think that arguement could ever be used, successfully, in any sort of fair-minded debate. After all, to a "believer," (a group to which I do not belong)what is the difference between subscribing to a theory, and then using that theory as the basis for further work and study and more theories, and so on and so forth?
Indeed, to say you "don't believe in evolution" is for all practical purposes like EXACTLY like saying you don't believe in ghosts, or God, or the universally accepted mechanics of a cumulus cloud.
Yes, yes, of course I understand the difference between blind faith and the "faith" one develops after a thorough investigation eliminating any reasonable doubts confirms a theory. Unfortunately, however, most of us bolt-turners, keyboard-punchers, congressthings and pretty much 99.999% of us simply do not the time, nor the technical wherewithal to investigate our electric bill, much less read Darwin's Origin of Species (I actually tried a couple of times). I've read enough on the subject to convince me that it is, to date, the best explanation for how species change; but, sadly, even though I've heard there is indeed physical evidence---transitional fossils---and I do actually believe they exist, I've yet to lay my hands one (with the exception of every living thing I've ever come into contact with, of course, since we're all transitional, for a while, anyway, till
something better comes along).
Anyhow, before I digress into some meaningless pseudophilosophical noodlings...I just wanted to point out that it reallys seems to me that your choice of words should reflect that there are different "levels" of belief, rather than trying to eliminate the concept from the skeptic's vocabulary altogether.
Mars Manito
PS: I'm also an unborn-again former bike racer. I grew up in the
Assemblies of God, and if it hadn't been for my beautiful, wonderful,
loving, agnostic wife, who just couldn't even fathom how I could believe
anything so patently ridiculous---well, I'd probably writing some
obnoxiously clueless letter to you, or some other heathen, instead. Keep
up the good work.
posted by Jefferson | 10:48 PM
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