Skepticism and why it’s good for you, by the Skepbitch.

I didn’t rush to read Dawkins when The God Delusion came out and I’ve only read the first chapter because it’s available online. That isn’t because I don’t want to read him – I do and I think it’s important to do so if only because his writing has, for better or worse, formed a lot of the basis of what is, at least in the US, being dubbed ‘new atheism’. Vocabulary and focus shift over time, I suppose, and it’s good to stay current. That said, I re-read Bertand Russell’s “Why I Am Not A Christian” this morning after doing a random search and it struck me how little one would need to change his arguments – first articulated in a speech made in 1927 – to apply them to today’s so-called ‘debate’. For example:

On ‘First Cause’

I may say that when I was a young man…I for a long time accepted the argument of the First Cause, until one day, at the age of eighteen, I read John Stuart Mill’s Autobiography, and I there found this sentence: “My father taught me that the question ‘Who made me?’ cannot be answered, since it immediately suggests the further question `Who made god?’” That very simple sentence showed me, as I still think, the fallacy in the argument of the First Cause. If everything must have a cause, then God must have a cause.

On the ‘natural law’ argument, which today could be applied to the ‘intelligent designer’ argument and which served as an unwitting precursor to the inane ‘it’s just a theory’ statement:

the whole idea that natural laws imply a lawgiver is due to a confusion between natural and human laws. Human laws are behests commanding you to behave a certain way, in which you may choose to behave, or you may choose not to behave; but natural laws are a description of how things do in fact behave, and being a mere description of what they in fact do, you cannot argue that there must be somebody who told them to do that, because even supposing that there were, you are then faced with the question “Why did God issue just those natural laws and no others?” If you say that he did it simply from his own good pleasure, and without any reason, you then find that there is something which is not subject to law, and so your train of natural law is interrupted. If you say, as more orthodox theologians do, that in all the laws which God issues he had a reason for giving those laws rather than others — the reason, of course, being to create the best universe, although you would never think it to look at it — if there were a reason for the laws which God gave, then God himself was subject to law, and therefore you do not get any advantage by introducing God as an intermediary. You really have a law outside and anterior to the divine edicts, and God does not serve your purpose, because he is not the ultimate lawgiver. In short, this whole argument about natural law no longer has anything like the strength that it used to have. I am traveling on in time in my review of the arguments. The arguments that are used for the existence of God change their character as time goes on. They were at first hard intellectual arguments embodying certain quite definite fallacies. As we come to modern times they become less respectable intellectually and more and more affected by a kind of moralizing vagueness. [my emphasis]

He tackles the ‘design’ argument directly as well, though I think Russell’s use of the word is slightly different from what we mean today:

…since the time of Darwin we understand much better why living creatures are adapted to their environment. It is not that their environment was made to be suitable to them but that they grew to be suitable to it, and that is the basis of adaptation. There is no evidence of design about it.

When you come to look into this argument from design, it is a most astonishing thing that people can believe that this world, with all the things that are in it, with all its defects, should be the best that omnipotence and omniscience have been able to produce in millions of years. I really cannot believe it. Do you think that, if you were granted omnipotence and omniscience and millions of years in which to perfect your world, you could produce nothing better than the Ku Klux Klan or the Fascists?

On the moral argument:

Kant, as I say, invented a new moral argument for the existence of God, and that in varying forms was extremely popular during the nineteenth century. It has all sorts of forms. One form is to say there would be no right or wrong unless God existed. I am not for the moment concerned with whether there is a difference between right and wrong, or whether there is not: that is another question. The point I am concerned with is that, if you are quite sure there is a difference between right and wrong, then you are in this situation: Is that difference due to God’s fiat or is it not? If it is due to God’s fiat, then for God himself there is no difference between right and wrong, and it is no longer a significant statement to say that God is good. If you are going to say, as theologians do, that God is good, you must then say that right and wrong have some meaning which is independent of God’s fiat, because God’s fiats are good and not bad independently of the mere fact that he made them. If you are going to say that, you will then have to say that it is not only through God that right and wrong came into being, but that they are in their essence logically anterior to God.

There are more arguments than just these, naturally, and I recommend them highly not just for their content but for the elegance and wit with which they are made. Russell talks about how religion is based on fear and emotion and argues that it has retarded, and continues to oppose, progress. While parts of the essay feel a bit dated now, it is remarkable that they only need a tiny bit of trimming to be applicable 81 years since they were first written. Also, although Russell speaks of Christianity specifically and devotes part of the essay to Christ, it should be obvious from what I’ve quoted above that his argument is quite portable and argues against religion in general. And, despite the title, the essay is a positive one that ends on a hopeful note.

We want to stand upon our own feet and look fair and square at the world — its good facts, its bad facts, its beauties, and its ugliness; see the world as it is and be not afraid of it. Conquer the world by intelligence and not merely by being slavishly subdued by the terror that comes from it. The whole conception of God is a conception derived from the ancient Oriental despotisms. It is a conception quite unworthy of free men. When you hear people in church debasing themselves and saying that they are miserable sinners, and all the rest of it, it seems contemptible and not worthy of self-respecting human beings. We ought to stand up and look the world frankly in the face. We ought to make the best we can of the world, and if it is not so good as we wish, after all it will still be better than what these others have made of it in all these ages. A good world needs knowledge, kindliness, and courage; it does not need a regretful hankering after the past or a fettering of the free intelligence by the words uttered long ago by ignorant men. It needs a fearless outlook and a free intelligence. It needs hope for the future, not looking back all the time toward a past that is dead, which we trust will be far surpassed by the future that our intelligence can create.

At Ameel’s insistence, I finally started using Google Reader a few months ago. It was a bit weird at first because one of the things you lose is each blog’s individual look and feel. But although there are a few blogs that I still mark as read in GR and then go and read at the actual site, I’m mostly over that and am quite happy to say that it’s very handy. It’s also somehow made it easier to keep adding blogs to my list now that they come to me. And that is what this post is about. My blogroll is out of date and I’ve been meaning to fix that, but as I do, I thought I’d write a bit about the blogs and feeds I read, particularly the new ones. In alphabetical order, too!

Ameel’s Career & MBA Exposition(ACME): This is Ameel’s “professional” blog, in which he talks school, career, and tech. I find it interesting not just because he’s my husband (of 4 years as of today) but because it’s full of information and links to information on technology, particularly as it relates to the WWW.

Arts & Letters Daily: As the name suggests, AL Daily is a listing of articles of note concerning books, writers, current events, education and culture. The articles come from a range of sources and represent differing opinions. If I’m at a loose end, I’ll usually go there and browse through the archives or go through the links on the left – I don’t know how many there are but I can safely say I have not looked at them all and probably won’t be able to. There is seriously tons to read.

Bad Astronomy Blog: I probably would not have found this blog if Phil Platt (the Bad Astronomer himself) had not written about the bad physics in the Transformers movie. I’ve been hooked pretty much since I read that. The posts about astronomy are interesting enough on their own, specially given the enthusiasm with which he writes, but there’s also quite a bit of coverage about the religiosity against which scientists and skeptics have to fight in the US. Some is scary, but mostly it’s just very funny. The website also debunks such conspiracy theories as the moon hoax and tackles astrology and pseudoscience among other things.

Bitchitorial: Written by Natalie P., owner and webmistress of Heartless Bitches International, this blog replaced the Bitchitorial section of the site itself, although the site is alive and well. It’s not updated very often, but I find her straight-talking, no-nonsense perspective on everything wonderful to read.

Eglantine’s Cake: Author Penni Russon maintains this blog, where she writes about things that she wants to write about. This can range from writing about writing, books, work, kids, teaching, projects, home, cooking, people, research, issues or anything else, really.

Pharyngula:I heard about PZ Myers on the Bad Astronomy Blog and eventually followed a link to his blog. Myers is a biologist and a leader in the charge against nonsense like ‘intelligent design’ and other pseudoscience that seems to be gaining increasing currency, particularly in the US. Tangles with creationists and right-wingers are common and very entertaining.

PunkAssBlog: I’ve only just started reading this one, but it’s quite interesting. Written by a number of contributors, its commentary on current events is sarcastic, intelligent and very entertaining.

Random Tangent: Ameel’s personal blog.

Science Based Medicine: This is a vey interesting and informative new blog written by five regular contributors and a few guests. All writers have medical credentials and some are fairly well known online already. The point of this blog, as laid out here is to “scientifically examine medical and health topics of interest to the public. This includes reviewing newly published studies, examining dubious products and claims, providing much needed scientific balance to the often credulous health reporting, and exploring issues related to the regulation of scientific quality in medicine.” Today’s post about ‘Alternative Flight‘ is well worth a look.

Stephen Fry: To quote a friend, “Stephen Fry has a blog? Stephen Fry has a blog? Stephen Fry has a blog? Heart of my heart, Stephen Fry has a blog?” And he’s a geek. *swoon*

The Happy Feminist: This is another new addition to my reading list. I’ve been going through her posts as thoroughly as possible because what she seems to routinely make good points about women in (American) society. Take a look here, for example. She’s articulate, interesting and thoughtful, which gets my vote.

The Little Professor: I don’t remember where or when I came across this blog, but it’s become something of an old friend. There are posts about novels, the Victorian novel, teaching, universities, teaching at university, grading, academics, and so on. I particularly like the lists of books and the ‘numbers’ posts.

I think that’s it for the time being, though in the course of writing this I managed to find at least a dozen more blogs that look interesting, so I may be back with a new list once I’m done getting to know them a bit.  In the mean time, if I’ve misrepresented anyone’s blog or got anything wrong, I apologize and will fix it if I catch it or if you let me know where the eff-up is.