Hello there.
Did you consider that reaosn and evolution are concepts in crisis since the developement of modern semantics? I think Chomsky explains it better in his conference about biolinguistics. But the destruction of positivsm is something that happened in the late XIX century. Evolution and reason are no longer concepts to be trusted anymore. I was wondering if you read the work of post structuralists like Derrida or Lyotard, even Heidegger in the early XX century let that statement cristal clear. But the real doubt was… you are concient of all this I’m saying and you choose not to brought it up in the show cause believers are three steps behind it, or you actually don’t know it :S
Thanks for reading!
Dear *****,
Thank you for pointing out that reason does not matter. After reading your letter, I have concluded that you are, in fact, an imaginary platypus named Phil. As such, I have decided to let my talking anthropomorphic ceiling tile answer your letter for me. Please let me know when you hear from him.
Sincerely,
Russell Glasser
The Atheist Experience
23 comments
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DavidCT
December 17, 2009 at 3:16 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Well that was about as coherent as gibberish. There were sentences and English words but I could not detect anything meaningful. I guess we are all too primitive to comprehend the truth when it is so clearly presented and right before our eyes.
Guillaume
December 17, 2009 at 3:52 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
A lot of names thrown there for the sake of making an argument out of nothing, and I am being generous. I doubt he understands much, of anything, of the works of those intellectuals he mentions.
dreamking00
December 17, 2009 at 3:58 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
http://www.xkcd.com/675/
Mythnam
December 17, 2009 at 3:59 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Well at least he didn't try to use reason to establish that reason can't be trusted. That would have made him look like some kind of idiot!
Kazim
December 17, 2009 at 4:00 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Wanda: "But you think you're an intellectual, don't you, ape?" Otto: "Apes don't read philosophy." Wanda: "Yes they do, Otto, they just don't understand it!"
Robert
December 17, 2009 at 4:09 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Sounds like my women's and gender studies courses. They were fun, and they did have some excellent things to say, but the postmodernist and post-structuralism epistemological theories missed the boat on a number of things I think
George From NY
December 17, 2009 at 4:11 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Foucault, Derrida et alia have a lot to answer for.
Kazim
December 17, 2009 at 4:14 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
@Derrick:That is a great xkcd, but I think this one is also pretty relevant."Communicating badly and then acting smug when you're not understood is not cleverness."
Spurll
December 17, 2009 at 4:44 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Good thing EEA got to you first, Russel. I think I love you.
Zurahn
December 17, 2009 at 4:56 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Was that a philosophy mad-lib?
No 2 Religion
December 17, 2009 at 6:03 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Hi. I think I just a got a message from your ceiling tile.
JD
December 17, 2009 at 6:30 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
nice cultural ref there Russ… Interestingly enough that movie was the first time I'd heard of Nietszche (another reason it is just awesome)
Ing
December 17, 2009 at 8:38 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Reminder chumpish a hadaway boob cadging superannuated cuticle?
Daniel O'Leary
December 17, 2009 at 10:56 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I think the original writer got a little crazy with the thesaurus button in word.
AtheistPride
December 17, 2009 at 11:09 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I think Ing said it best. Really.
Hugo
December 17, 2009 at 11:49 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Nice answer Kazim. Nothing more to be said on an email like that. Very funny though!
JT
December 18, 2009 at 7:17 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Clearly, the writer is an intersection between Thor's, Zeus's and Spongebob's farts.
InvincibleIronyMan
December 18, 2009 at 7:39 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Interesting that your correspondent should mention Chomsky alongside Derrida and Lyotard in the same email. Here is what Chomsky thinks of post-modernism: http://www.cscs.umich.edu/~crshalizi/chomsky-on-postmodernism.htmlI strongly recommend reading this, it is hilarious!
Ing
December 18, 2009 at 8:10 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
"I think Ing said it best. Really."Parasyncemuffin *nods sagely*
George From NY
December 18, 2009 at 1:38 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
I don't think PoMo will ever recover from the stake Alan Sokal drove through it's heart.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokal_affairYou can keep Chomsky.
Neutron
December 18, 2009 at 4:11 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
It looks to me as though there was a sudden and precipitous IQ drop in this post after "early XX century". And, of course, reason and evolution are inextricably linked; the fate of one must decide the fate of the other.
Robert
December 19, 2009 at 11:37 am (UTC -6) Link to this comment
Yes, sincerity77, Chomsky roll his eyes a bit at postmodernism. He also spoke about it a bit at the web address below, it is one of my favorite essays of all time.http://www.chomsky.info/articles/1995—-02.htm
Axio
December 19, 2009 at 10:11 pm (UTC -6) Link to this comment
hey kazim… you just called that poor guy **** thats sooo low!Now seriously… I mean… " I think Chomsky explains it better in his conference about biolinguistics."**** you don't understand it… then you don't fuking bring it up!Have a nice day.