{"id":4729,"date":"2018-03-01T13:14:14","date_gmt":"2018-03-01T13:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2018\/03\/01\/faith-reason-and-steven-pinker\/"},"modified":"2018-03-01T13:14:14","modified_gmt":"2018-03-01T13:14:14","slug":"faith-reason-and-steven-pinker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/2018\/03\/01\/faith-reason-and-steven-pinker\/","title":{"rendered":"Faith, Reason, and Steven Pinker"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Gray's review of Pinker's latest book starts like this:<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

"Opposing reason is, by definition, unreasonable.\u201d Steven Pinker is fond of definitions. Early on in this monumental apologia for a currently fashionable version of Enlightenment thinking, he writes: \u201cTo take something on faith means to believe it without good reason, so by definition a faith in the existence of supernatural entities clashes with reason.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Why are scientists so silly when they stray from their specialties? <\/span><\/p>\n

Let's think about the second quotation. The first independent clause is plainly false. Suppose my belief that Jones shot Smith is based solely on the testimony of a number of reliable witnesses all of whom agree. My belief is reasonable despite its being based on faith in the veracity of the witnesses.<\/span><\/p>\n

Most of us have a justified true belief about our birth dates. How did we acquire these beliefs? Did we glance at a calendar as we emerged from the birth canal?  No. I reasonably believe that I was born on such and such a date because I remember my mother telling me so, a telling never contradicted by anyone, and because I have an official-looking birth certificate in my possession. My belief is reasonable despite being based on the testimony of others. <\/span><\/p>\n

There are reliable authorities in all fields. What I believe on the basis of their  testimony and what they have recorded in books I believe reasonably.<\/span><\/p>\n

I could go on, but this is boring, so enough.  Pinker has done very good work, but when he tries to play the philosopher he makes a fool of himself.  Another example: Pinker on Scientism<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Gray's review here<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Gray's review of Pinker's latest book starts like this: "Opposing reason is, by definition, unreasonable.\u201d Steven Pinker is fond of definitions. Early on in this monumental apologia for a currently fashionable version of Enlightenment thinking, he writes: \u201cTo take something on faith means to believe it without good reason, so by definition a faith … Continue reading “Faith, Reason, and Steven Pinker”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[128],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reason-and-rationality"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4729"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4729\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maverickphilosopher.blog\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}