tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615941543485589009.post6438428467489287254..comments2024-02-19T12:05:47.873+00:00Comments on Something Surprising: Faithful genius - a contradiction?Plasma Engineerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02891736950166421184noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6615941543485589009.post-55376367580194505322011-06-01T11:29:25.707+01:002011-06-01T11:29:25.707+01:00Interesting!
My own hunch is that the answer lies...Interesting!<br /><br />My own hunch is that the answer lies in emotion. I have the strong impression that emotion exercises a much stronger power over humans than reason does: emotion comes naturally, reason and rationality have to be worked at, practised, honed. (As Gary Marcus explains in his excellent book, <i>Kluge: the haphazard evolution of the human brain</i>, this is attributable to the fact that, because of our evolutionary history, our pre-rational brain gets first bite at the cherry when it comes to our thought processes.) <br /><br />Even intelligent people have their emotional needs, of course; and when you then add in all the diabolical features of religion that could have been actively designed to switch off our critical faculties when it comes to religion (see Dan Dennett's <i>Breaking the Spell</i>), I think it's not so very difficult to understand why even intelligent humans have their religious weak spots. That doesn't alter the fact that they <i>are</i> weak spots, of course, or that the intelligent, otherwise thinking person is letting him or herself down when giving him/herself up to them.Paula Kirbynoreply@blogger.com