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I'd have to say that they are different sorts of food. Science is a food for your brain. It stimulates you and helps you to doubt everything. Religion is a f

I'd have to say that they are different sorts of food. Science is a food for your brain. It stimulates you and helps you to doubt everything. Religion is a food for your "soul" or inner well being. It is meant to make you into a better person and to help you enjoy this life in a different way. Our brain needs both types of stimulation. Some of us get stimulation by proving our theories. The religous get stimulation by thinking about abstract concepts that have no solution. You can consider it like a game, the better you play the "happier" you will be. I'll admit that religion does not work for everyone. For some it tastes like garbage and gives no nourishment, I can see why you'd view it as a pacifier in that way. To others it helps them to cope with being on a rock, flying through space. It helps me in that way. In this case I say to each his own, I prefer to separate science and religion and get my nourishment from them both in equal parts.

zerostar07 14y ago
Personally, i take the eliminativist view that soul is your brain. I do see some value in metaphysical contemplation (as a fun exercise) but I think if one accepts it seriously, it becomes an escape mechanism.
- think-large 14y ago
  An escape mechanism for what? To escape the fact that you are a package of meat spinning on a rock, spinning about a ball of burning gas, spinning about.... It is an escape, a hope a dream that at the end of this day in day out life to wake up to something different rather than to cease existing. It is the most arrogant, self sustaining idea out there. That you as a person are important, that your opinion will matter, and that the concept of who you are will be carried forward by more than your sperm/eggs. Faith is the concept of believing in something you can't prove. It is a thesis that is backed by our need as a species to propagate forward. The proof is in our minds (or spirits). It gives us something to latch on to. I just don't understand why it has to be considered a bad thing? I have to also throw out there that philosophy has a great way of showing that doubt is at our core. I think some of these arguments are fanciful, but why is it not possible for there to be something more out there that we can't detect?
  - zerostar07 14y ago
    Religion (if that's what you describe) offers coping mechanisms that pacify the existential stress. While this is rewarding (and psychologically beneficial to most people) it also acts as an escape from the drive to discover the true nature of the world. Naturally, we may assume that there may be many entities outside this universe (but should they necessarily be undetectable?), as our imagination is boundless. That doesn't mean that these ideas should necessarily be considered valid by everyone. It's a personal choice to believe or not. The appeal of science is that it provides a universally applicable test (empiricism) to determine whether a belief is false or not.

zerostar07 14y ago

Personally, i take the eliminativist view that soul is your brain. I do see some value in metaphysical contemplation (as a fun exercise) but I think if one accepts it seriously, it becomes an escape mechanism.

think-large 14y ago
An escape mechanism for what? To escape the fact that you are a package of meat spinning on a rock, spinning about a ball of burning gas, spinning about.... It is an escape, a hope a dream that at the end of this day in day out life to wake up to something different rather than to cease existing. It is the most arrogant, self sustaining idea out there. That you as a person are important, that your opinion will matter, and that the concept of who you are will be carried forward by more than your sperm/eggs. Faith is the concept of believing in something you can't prove. It is a thesis that is backed by our need as a species to propagate forward. The proof is in our minds (or spirits). It gives us something to latch on to. I just don't understand why it has to be considered a bad thing? I have to also throw out there that philosophy has a great way of showing that doubt is at our core. I think some of these arguments are fanciful, but why is it not possible for there to be something more out there that we can't detect?
- zerostar07 14y ago
  Religion (if that's what you describe) offers coping mechanisms that pacify the existential stress. While this is rewarding (and psychologically beneficial to most people) it also acts as an escape from the drive to discover the true nature of the world. Naturally, we may assume that there may be many entities outside this universe (but should they necessarily be undetectable?), as our imagination is boundless. That doesn't mean that these ideas should necessarily be considered valid by everyone. It's a personal choice to believe or not. The appeal of science is that it provides a universally applicable test (empiricism) to determine whether a belief is false or not.