The Official God FAQ

[MattBowron]

pardon my butting in, but as we're talking about the idea of God existing and all that, i just wanted to ask you guys something,

Some think that The Matrix trilogy can only be interpreted as a re-telling of Jesus of Nazareth with Neo being Jesus Christ, but there have also been interpretations of Agent Smith being interpreted as Jesus Christ and Neo being in fact the Anti-Christ

Any opinions on this, atheists and thiests alike?

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Cort Haus

tbh, I didn't really understand Whaleboy's posts. They're a bit too filosofy-speak for my humble comprehension. The only thing the heart does that I know about is to pump blood around the body. All thinking and emoting is done in the head, including processing relating to value-systems.

It's really easy. Take a proposition like "Water boils at 100 degrees Centigrade". It has truth conditions and can be the object of belief or knowledge (i.e. you can believe it or you can know it). This is because it describes a possible fact in the world (in fact an actual fact, because it is true).

There's a problem when you treat ethical statements like this. "Murder is bad" does not seem to report an objective fact or even a possible objective fact. There don't seem to be values in the world. We could say that it describe your own subjective valuation, but emotivists go one step further by saying it doesn't describe anything at all. Rather it is an expression (in the way that "ouch" is an expression of pain rather than a description of it).

Hence, the problem of what it is that ethical statements describe goes away because for emotivists they don't describe anything.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara

These can all be explained away by "selfish" motives.

Not with a plausible explanation. The usual strategy of egoists in these debates is to tell increasingly ridiculous stories and assuming that everyone who says different is a liar.

There may well be some people who lie about disinterested motives and there may well be some people who perhaps unconcious selfish motivations, but it quickly becomes ridiculous when you try to apply it to everything.

[Elok]

Originally posted by Kuciwalker
Assuming we restrict the word "self-interest" to mean something like "personal material benefit", then it's not really justified to assume that self-interest is a sound logical imperative. If we don't restrict the word, and let it just mean "whatever you're interested in", then it's trivial to prove that any altruistic act is "self-interested".

It seems pretty logical to me that we pursue those things that perpetuate and/or enhance our own existence on this Earth.

[Agathon]

Originally posted by Elok

I realize that you're upset that I didn't get a degree in thinkology and lose my ability to communicate, become a sort of cognitive eunuch like you did. Perhaps it's the fault of the circles from another dimension. But it's your problem, Aggie, not mine.

Not really. I know this stuff as it is part of my job to know. You apparently do not know it and cling to 1st year undergraduate silliness. End of story.

Quit trying to browbeat me, and if you find my style so terrible I don't care in the slightest if you put me on ignore. Go ahead, do it.

Done.

[Elok]

Yay!