At one point in the class discussion we discussed 'how do you know what is true'. I gave the 'elbow test' as an example of how I sometimes judge an idea: Am I more or less certain an idea is true than my certainty that I have an elbow?
I think it is relevant to note one of the responses in class. It went something like this: I don't care how much external real world evidence you provide....I don't give a shit.
That is exactly the same intellectual position taken by Fundamentalists. It is this point of similarity that liberal theology seems to retain with fundamentalist theology. At the end of the day, if you peal back the layers far enough, you both hold unjustified beliefs which are immune to evidence, logic, or reason.
I'm pretty sure no one said "I don't give a shit." My question to you is what proof do you have that external real world evidence is even real outside of your brain? (Not that I believe we're not physical beings and only living in a matrix, just presenting the other side.) Can't reson be flawed? Have we not seen scientific evidence/reason disproved?
I'm not sure how to put love, freedom, democracy, justice on the same level as elbows. In that placing God on par with the other claim strikes me as a category mistake. That doesn't mean there isn't a basis for evaluating, is this a just situation, what is loving or not loving, but they won't be exhausted by the tools of verification.
And I'm not sure what piece of evidence that exists which "refutes" a belief in God, though there may be some which refute some concepts of God. Myself, I look to what attributes have been described of God and see if that plays itself out in our environment. To the degree that it is, we got some good candidates for divinity.
At one point in the class discussion we discussed 'how do you know what is true'. I gave the 'elbow test' as an example of how I sometimes judge an idea: Am I more or less certain an idea is true than my certainty that I have an elbow?
ReplyDeleteI think it is relevant to note one of the responses in class. It went something like this: I don't care how much external real world evidence you provide....I don't give a shit.
That is exactly the same intellectual position taken by Fundamentalists. It is this point of similarity that liberal theology seems to retain with fundamentalist theology. At the end of the day, if you peal back the layers far enough, you both hold unjustified beliefs which are immune to evidence, logic, or reason.
I'm pretty sure no one said "I don't give a shit." My question to you is what proof do you have that external real world evidence is even real outside of your brain? (Not that I believe we're not physical beings and only living in a matrix, just presenting the other side.) Can't reson be flawed? Have we not seen scientific evidence/reason disproved?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how to put love, freedom, democracy, justice on the same level as elbows. In that placing God on par with the other claim strikes me as a category mistake. That doesn't mean there isn't a basis for evaluating, is this a just situation, what is loving or not loving, but they won't be exhausted by the tools of verification.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm not sure what piece of evidence that exists which "refutes" a belief in God, though there may be some which refute some concepts of God. Myself, I look to what attributes have been described of God and see if that plays itself out in our environment. To the degree that it is, we got some good candidates for divinity.
ReplyDelete