Knowledge, belief & agnosticism (Agnosticism)

by dhw, Monday, July 21, 2008, 17:29 (5755 days ago) @ Carl

Carl: "Many strongly held positions begin in the gut and then rely on the brain to come up with the appropriate justification." - You also draw our attention to divine revelation, and point out that God could prove his existence by appearing before a panel of esteemed scientists to perform miracles and answer all the big questions. - We've had quite a few discussions on the nature of belief, and most of us agreed that some sort of "inner conviction" (= gut feeling) was an integral part. The brain can certainly justify anything, as can be seen from the rational arguments for and against the existence of God, so what is the source of the inner conviction either way? To link up with the "origin of life" thread, how can atheists be convinced that life has arisen spontaneously ... one key condition for atheism ... even though there is absolutely no evidence that it can do so? Why are Christians so certain that not only does God exist, but he's also personal, all-good and loving? How can they be sure they would not have been convinced Muslims/Hindus/ Buddhists had they been born into another society? - Revelation obviously plays a huge part in the monotheistic religions, but unless God accepts Carl's challenge, I don't see how we can know "who has had it, who has imagined it and who is faking it". The same applies to near-death and extra-sensory experiences, ghosts, visions etc. Unless I have or see one myself, I'm going to entertain doubts, but on the agnostic's inevitable other hand, why should anyone have an "inner conviction" that they are all imaginary or fake? - Not so sure about "all knowledge is suspect, especially scientific knowledge". I'd prefer "including scientific knowledge". Otherwise, our colour is the same, even if we spell it differently!