....I didn't have the impression that Bertrand Russell himself was "full of doubt":
Oh, now that I check again, he actually labelled himself agnostic, not atheist. Interesting article at The Guardian about the finer details of his thoughts on religion here.
He labelled himself agnostic because logic has its limits. The first quote is a direct lift from Yeats The Second Coming: The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.
I like his idea that logically we are agnostic practically we atheists. The problem I have with any metaphysical position is that it is too easy to make stuff up. A logical argument is simply that, it isn't proof. That's why the success in our understanding of world has proceeded at such a rapid rate began when we stopped talking and started testing our ideas against the world, which is what experimentation and observation are about. Ideas are easy, proof is often extremely difficult.
Yes, the hidden appeal of logic is really not that it works to prove anything - but that it's beautiful. Perhaps on that basis aesthetics - the arts - should really be studied before logic.
2 comments:
He labelled himself agnostic because logic has its limits. The first quote is a direct lift from Yeats The Second Coming: The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity.
I like his idea that logically we are agnostic practically we atheists. The problem I have with any metaphysical position is that it is too easy to make stuff up. A logical argument is simply that, it isn't proof. That's why the success in our understanding of world has proceeded at such a rapid rate began when we stopped talking and started testing our ideas against the world, which is what experimentation and observation are about. Ideas are easy, proof is often extremely difficult.
Yes, the hidden appeal of logic is really not that it works to prove anything - but that it's beautiful. Perhaps on that basis aesthetics - the arts - should really be studied before logic.
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