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So many top scientists so proud of ignorance

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And proud of it? Policy analyst Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry offers one suggestion at The Week, ripping off science presenter Bill Nye, holding forth on the uselessness of philosophy:

Many, though certainly not all, of the scientists who opine loudest about the uselessness of philosophy are public atheists. The form of atheism they promote is usually known as “eliminative materialism,” or the notion that matter is the only thing that exists. This theory is motivated by “scientism,” or the notion that the only knowable things are knowable by science. Somewhat paradoxically, these propositions are essentially religious — to dismiss entire swathes of human experience and human thought requires a venture of faith. They’re also not very smart religion, since they end up simply shouting away inconvenient propositions.

Fundamentalism is not a belief system or a religion, it’s a state of mind. More.

Actually, naturalism is deadlier than that. It dismisses the dissenter’s right to an evidence-based objection because the  brain was shaped for fitness, not for truth. And  the naturalist has more power. Thus, there can be no genuine dissent from naturalism.

It is either naturalism or thinking, I am afraid. – O’Leary for News

See also: Philosophy makes kids smarter in math. And literacy. Lots of people today think that scientists dumping on philosophy are proving that scientists are smarter than philosophers. And, guess what!, so are their hearers!

and

Galileo?: US gov’t thought of prosecuting climate doubters As science becomes ever more an established religion, it acquires the expected deformities.

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Comments
News said:
Actually, naturalism is deadlier than that.
And "naturalism" is from PHILOSOPHY, therefore you contradicted yourself again. Along with other topics you started you are clearly promoting philosophical hogwash be forced into the public school classrooms. To hell with science right? Just introduce religion under the disguise of "philosophy" and science gets trashed even more. That's just creepy.GaryGaulin
March 12, 2016
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What is philosophy? why is it relevant? I don't think philosophers ever mattered either . Only christian doctrines/conclusions mattered with the public or thinkers. These atheists etc etc simply think philosophy is about god or the soul or religion. what they might rightly bump into is the subject of error in competing philosophy's. Just the bible please.Robert Byers
March 11, 2016
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Yes I'm astonished by all those in the science world who do not even know the premise of the theory they are defending. One sentence is too much for them to memorize. Are they proud of their ignorance?GaryGaulin
March 11, 2016
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I've spent my life wondering how people can be so smart and so willfully blind at the same time. It's like when somebody is lying and they should know they are lying, but their reasons for doing it are so good they think they are being truthful. It is baffling. Bill Nye isn't even in the same league as Hawking and I have to believe that he believes what he said when he said philosophy is dead. It boggles the mind sometimes. Their religion is no religion. They have that worldview and you better know that they are very fundamentalist about it. No contradictions to their worldview will even be considered. I'm surprised they don't think the world is flat as they only believe what they can see and from here it looks flat. Any data that refutes their position if it can't be explained away will be ignored and the messengers savaged for bringing them the data. Sounds just like a snake handling religious fundamentalist doesn't it? Not much difference except the fundamentalist have reasons to be honest and charitable besides how they feel about it.jimmontg
March 11, 2016
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