“If he'd dropped his lifelong belief just because someone came up with an objection, it's not just that you'd be surprised, to a certain degree you'd think Quine was irrational. We all begin our inquiries somewhere, with a large complex of presuppositions and convictions. We should all be open to cha…”— David Shatz, amazon.comTagged: Why we believe what we believe, Philosophy, Religion
“If you saw somebody trying to resolve a spat with a spouse by putting pen to paper and setting up numbered premises, you'd find it a crazy way to settle things, and maybe would also brand it as a tactic for fleeing the real issues. Only in philosophy does this sort of exactitude win an imprimatur; e…”— David Shatz, amazon.comTagged: Why we believe what we believe, Philosophy, Religion
“Only a mad person would want to conduct their life with complete, Spock-like logicality. We are possessed not of minds alone, but of hearts, emotions, needs, instincts, and habits; and we inhabit social contexts.”— David Shatz, amazon.comTagged: Why we believe what we believe
“In the sphere of religion, proofs for the existence of God don't always sway people into belief (the ontological argument of Anselm is notorious for not converting those who think it is sound); intellectual solutions to the problem of evil, however formidable, often fail to soothe the gut-level feel…”— David Shatz, amazon.comTagged: Why we believe what we believe, Philosophy, Religion
“When a philosopher publishes an article called 'Why There Are No People' (an actual title!), he invites a joke: Whom does he think he's writing for? Whom will he blame if he gets turned down for tenure?”— David Shatz, amazon.comTagged: Why we believe what we believe, Philosophy, Religion
“That nobody is really a skeptic -- even while philosophizing -- becomes clear if you watch what we philosophers do, not what we say.”— David Shatz, amazon.comTagged: Why we believe what we believe, Philosophy, Religion
“An assumption that lies behind the questions we religious philosophers get asked is that philosophers internalize the conclusions that their intellects draw -- and live by them. David Hume taught us otherwise. Hume was fascinated by the divorce between philosophy and practical life. In my study, he…”— David Shatz, amazon.comTagged: Why we believe what we believe, Philosophy, Religion