by brotherdan 200 Replies latest jw experiences
The scientist can also have a lack of open mindedness too.
Such as? I notice you use the word "scientist" in the singular, which I would agree is true, but the totality of scientists as a whole...not one has a open mine and has tried to apply the scientific method?
I think the video is a bit too narrow. The scientist can also have a lack of open mindedness too. I haven't turned my back on the existance of the supernatural. I think a true open minded person allows for the possibility.
Before you generalize scientists, please make sure you're not misinformed. It's like people saying JWs don't believe in Jesus. (I always hated that!)
[EDIT: Okay, sorry, NVL made a good point that you used the singular form. My bad. Yes, any individual in any group can lack an open mind.]
While I could be wrong, I'm not aware of any reputable scientists stating that the supernatural world is impossible. Improbable, yes, but not impossible. Even Richard Dawkins writes in such a way as to leave an opening for evidence contrary to his current belief, should it ever be presented. (ie, Why There Almost Certainly Is No God)
Here's how one philosophy site describes open mindedness...
"The trait of open-mindedness is best understood as a disposition, rather than a current state of mind. It's not about what beliefs you actually have, but how open you are to revising them in appropriate circumstances. It requires the true humility of self-acknowledged fallibility. It requires that our minds be open to new evidence. But this is something very different from suggesting that we should be indiscriminately accepting of any and all viewpoints. That's not open-mindedness; it's gullibility. Rationality must remain as a filter.
Open-mindedness means that we will acknowledge the possibility that new evidence could in the future lead us to change our mind. But it doesn't preclude our drawing reasonable conclusions in the present."
No I wasn't generalizing. The video compared the scientific thinker to the supernatural thinker. I was just saying that closed mindedness CAN happen on BOTH sides. That's all.
There is something, also, to be said for personal experience. For example, a near death experience. For me, I have a hard time believing them. However, if I was to experience one, I don't think it would matter what someone told me. I would know what I had experienced. So I can't REALLY judge people as closed minded when they had a specific experience that made them convinced of something supernatural.
BD, I added this edit to my last post but noticed you'd already posted before I submitted it:
[EDIT: Okay, sorry, BD. NVL made a good point that you used the singular form. My bad. Yes, any individual in any group can lack an open mind.]
There is something, also, to be said for personal experience. For example, a near death experience. For me, I have a hard time believing them. However, if I was to experience one, I don't think it would matter what someone told me. I would know what I had experienced. So I can't REALLY judge people as closed minded when they had a specific experience that made them convinced of something supernatural.
I think a closed mind would go DIRECTLY to the supernatural explanation first and then refuse to entertain the more rational possibilities. True open mindedness would force a person to review the most plausible explanations before anything else. If all plausible explanations are defeated, I'd expect an open mind to pick the least implausible.
There's a reason, though, that anecdotal evidence is often unreliable...
No I wasn't generalizing. The video compared the scientific thinker to the supernatural thinker. I was just saying that closed mindedness CAN happen on BOTH sides. That's all.
True, but in the case of a near death experience, the scientist would say " let's figure out why this happens". the supernatural strongly tends to say " heaven" or "jesus" and case fucking closed.
Basically, what SBC said.
NVL, you remind me of a smartass buddy of mine. CFC! - funny
I gotta learn to be more concise. And relax a bit.
Yeah I agree with both of you. I think for me I'd be confused and divided. On one hand I could come up with a more "rational" explanation for the near death experience (i.e a random dream). But there have been many people that have the experiences and they see heaven or Jesus or whatever and they feel like they had a religious experience. That would be hard to NOT apply a supernatural meaning to it.
The fact is, the supernatural can never be proven beyond the shadow of a doubt.
I'm really in the same boat as you guys. However, I can entertain the possibility of the supernatural happening. I want to be skeptical but not so skeptical that I am CONVINCED that NOTHING supernatural can happen. Does that make sense?
Yeah I agree with both of you. I think for me I'd be confused and divided. On one hand I could come up with a more "rational" explanation for the near death experience (i.e a random dream). But there have been many people that have the experiences and they see heaven or Jesus or whatever and they feel like they had a religious experience. That would be hard to NOT apply a supernatural meaning to it.
Let me ask....what is more likely? That there is an invsible supernatural real that is hotly debated as to how it exists, what it means and what it does but it has an invisible person that talks to us and help us out in mysterious ways in that invisible realm....
...or....
There are physiological reactions due to low blood pressure and decreased oxygen blood flow to the brain that cause specific types of of halicinations?
