About This Forum: Social Sciences, Moral and Religious

[Rob Thornton]

what I really like about talking to Marc is it almost always leads me to consider things in new and interesting ways. The discussions we've had on epistemology have really been useful in helping me think - although they have occasionally sent me in search of more beer

Best, Rob

[Beelzebubalicious]

e-pissed-emology?

[Rob Thornton]

That is worth a big grin. Its a bit like reading the likes of David Hume - except you have to hear an obligatory Canadian "ehh" and you don't have to eat haggis

I was looking for a Hume quote - I think I remember one from the treatise on the senses about billiard balls and beer - but since I cannot find it this one is a pretty good one:

"If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, "Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number?" No. "Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence?" No. Commit it then to the flames: for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion."

Best, Rob

[wm]

I was looking for a Hume quote - I think I remember one from the treatise on the senses about billiard balls and beer - but since I cannot find it this one is a pretty good one:

"If we take in our hand any volume; of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance; let us ask, "Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number?" No. "Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence?" No. Commit it then to the flames: for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion."

Best, Rob

What are we to make then of Hume's Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion?

[Rob Thornton]

Hi Wayne, Happy New Year -

If I recall my takeaway was that there is no adequate human measure of the divine - to say or infer otherwise would be deceptive. Of course I was reading allot of Rilke back then too

Best, Rob

[wm]

I was reading allot of Rilke back then too

Best, Rob

That certainly explains a lot, Rob--Happy New Year and Decade

[Beelzebubalicious]

When I see stories like this (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programme...ht/8441813.stm)
I find it hard to understand from a cultural (or a relativist) point of view. Beyond the obvious reactions, I'm always intrigued by how pervasive the belief in spirits and the spirit world is in some countries, even in this "modern" world.