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Richard Dawkins Writes About Human Responsibility In Light of Darwinian Evolution
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| Richard Dawkins
Posted on 10/20/2006 8:52:20 PM PDT by SirLinksalot
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To: SirLinksalot
I know all Darwinists don't end up in such a moral muddle as Dawkins. But it's sad to see what was once a fine mind so utterly corrupted and confused. On the dreary ocean of determinism, there be monsters.
To: SirLinksalot
He's got a helluva good point! Someone who commits murder obviously has a broken brain. So, let's tie the b@%$#$d down and remove it --- we can just give him/her a new one when it is technologically feasible to do so...
To: SirLinksalot
biology was a mystery Darwin solved that
And what if Darwin got it wrong? Dawkins life work is a complete waste.
23
posted on
10/20/2006 9:34:14 PM PDT
by
My2Cents
(The Democrat Party's '06 platform: Offering a "Suicide Pact With America.")
To: My2Cents
Expecting Dawkins to question Darwin is like expecting Osama bin Laden to second-guess Muhammad.
24
posted on
10/20/2006 9:35:47 PM PDT
by
JCEccles
To: Semi Civil Servant
Dawkins dispensed with God a long time ago. All of this mad spinning he does is an attempt to fill the vacuum. Truth be told, I bet Dawkins doesn't really believe most of it, but he's compelled to promote it because of the worldview he's adopted.
25
posted on
10/20/2006 9:37:19 PM PDT
by
My2Cents
(The Democrat Party's '06 platform: Offering a "Suicide Pact With America.")
To: JCEccles
Well put. It's amazing how people who reject the absolutes of scripture end up trying to find alternative absolutes. The situational ethicist says, "There are no absolutes," which prompts me to ask, "Are you absolutely sure about that?"
26
posted on
10/20/2006 9:39:26 PM PDT
by
My2Cents
(The Democrat Party's '06 platform: Offering a "Suicide Pact With America.")
To: jwalsh07
I used that word 'morals' as it seems to be synonymous to the left with Christians. Clearly Mr. Dawkins is anti-Christian.
To: JCEccles
Mr. Dawkins is attempting to make sure Darwinian Evolution survives himself.
To: Felis_irritable
we're taking them off the streets so they cannot offend for a period of time. Also so they cannot pass on their genes and culture, at least for a period of time. In Darwinian terms, jail is for fine tuning the human gene pool, war is for drastic adjustment.
29
posted on
10/20/2006 9:45:39 PM PDT
by
Reeses
To: Just mythoughts
Clearly, Dawkins is an anti religious bigot since he paints with a very wide brush.
30
posted on
10/20/2006 9:46:50 PM PDT
by
jwalsh07
To: SirLinksalot
Richard Dawkins Writes About Human Responsibility In Light of Darwinian Evolution I didn't like this guy when he hosted Family Feud.
31
posted on
10/20/2006 9:46:51 PM PDT
by
blake6900
(THIS SPACE FOR RENT)
To: SirLinksalot
People want to kill a criminal as payback for the horrible things he did.
So much for Dawkins as any sort of omniscient entity.
A fair number of people simply want the perp to never repeat the crime.
And neutralizing the perp for eternity is one sure-fire way to get that job done.
32
posted on
10/20/2006 9:47:27 PM PDT
by
VOA
To: SirLinksalot
Richard Dawkins, in a recent poll of the Brits, was considered one of
the most (if not the most) influential scientists of our time.
And the percentage of Brits with a PhD in the sciences is?
He just happens to be a scientist. And a learned one.
But...he's influential because he's an evangelist.
33
posted on
10/20/2006 9:53:11 PM PDT
by
VOA
To: My2Cents
And what if Darwin got it wrong? Dawkins life work is a complete waste.
But it is not his fault because he just had a defective brain.
To: SirLinksalot
Retribution as a moral principle is incompatible with a scientific view of human behaviour.
We do not need a higher power to give us a moral framework, we have Charlie for that.
To: microgood
I meant Richard, not Charles.
To: SirLinksalot
Assigning blame and responsibility is an aspect of the useful fiction of
intentional agents that we construct in our brains as a means of short-cutting
a truer analysis of what is going on in the world in which we have
to live.
Bill Clinton: Hey, where was this guy Dawkins when I needed him?
My dangerous idea is that we shall eventually grow out of all this and
even learn to laugh at it, just as we laugh at Basil Fawlty when
he beats his car.
Bill Clinton: Memo to self, get Branson to give this guy Dawkins
a big cash grant to fit out this new moral framework and get it
into the grade schools.
I may save my legacy yet!
37
posted on
10/20/2006 10:01:46 PM PDT
by
VOA
To: SirLinksalot
It's impossible for Dawkins to write a single sentence that doesn't drip with arrogant cocksureness. The profound lack of humility in the man makes him one of the most unappealing -- and unserious -- public intellectuals on the scene today.
38
posted on
10/20/2006 10:04:59 PM PDT
by
beckett
(Amor Fati)
Comment #39 Removed by Moderator
To: SirLinksalot
As scientists, we believe that human brains, though they may not work in the same way as man-made computers, are as surely governed by the laws of physics. When a computer malfunctions, we do not punish it. We track down the problem and fix it, usually by replacing a damaged component, either in hardware or software
And who gets to determine what constitutes human 'malfunction?' What function exactly are humans supposed to be performing, and why exactly are we supposed to place value on any particular ends?
These are questions to which atheism is incapable of giving an answer... though of course there are hordes of individual atheist-ideologues who think we should replace the ways that made this country prosperous with their particular vision of how to achieve an 'advanced society.'
Isn't the murderer or the rapist just a machine with a defective component? Or a defective upbringing? Defective education? Defective genes?
Incredibly disturbing. To Dawkins, every person is merely a soulless machine that invites tinkering when it meets Dawkins' own idea of "defective."
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