Panpsychism in the West - David Skrbina
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The pluralism of Empedocles (495-435 BC) was more modest. He argued that a small set of elements su…
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21 Aug 2021
"The Monk in the garden" ~ Genetics
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There is a kind of immortality in every garden - Stillmeadow Daybook, Gladys Teber, 1899-1980
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21 Aug 2021
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Thus wrote Richard Dawkins
The 'Penguin English Dictionary' defines a delusion as 'a false belief o impression'. Surprisingly the illustrative quotation the dictionary gives is from phillip e Johnson: "Darwinism is the story of humanity's liberation from the delusion that its destiny is controlled by a power higher than itself" Can that be the same Phillip E Johnson who leads the creationist charge against Darwinism in America today? Indeed it is, and the quotation is, as we might guess, taken out of context. I hope the fact that I have stated as much will be noted, since the same courtesy has not been extended to me in numerous creationist quotations of my works, deliberately and misleadingly taken out of context. Whatever Johnson's own meaning, his sentence as it stands is one that I would be happy to endorse. The dictionary supplied with Microsoft Word defines a delusion as 'a persistent false belief held in the face of strong contradictory evidence, especially a symptom of psychiatric disorder.' The first part captures religious faith perfectly. as to whether it is a symptom of psychiatric disorder, I am inclined to follow Robert M.Pirsig, author of 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance': "When one person suffers from a delusion, it is called insanity. When many people suffer from a delusion it is called Religion"
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