Why I don't recommend Dawkins?????

[_Aristotle Smith]

SAUCE

WTF..here is the blog's regular url: http://servileconformist.typepad.com/servile-conformist/

I don't get why I'm getting 404'd

The Urls are not the same. The actual page in the link should be:

no-matter-how-you-feel-about-richard-dawkins-you-cant-deny-he-plays-an-important-role-in-the-contemporary-public-discours.html (Note MD is inserting an apostrophe here in the word "can't" which the url should not contain).

However the page that shows up in the link field on MD is:

no-matter-how-you-feel-about-richard-dawkins-you-can%27t-deny-he-plays-an-important-role-in-the-contemporary-public-discours.html

See the different in "can't?" My guess is that an apostrophe is being handled differently somewhere. Since an apostrophe is not legal in a url you can either drop it when creating the url or encode it. It looks like typepad and MD decided to handle it differently.

ETA: I think it's the stupid MD spelling corrector mucking things up again.

[_MrStakhanovite]

ETA: I think it's the stupid MD spelling corrector mucking things up again.

yeah, that has Shades fingerprints all over it.

[_subgenius]

subgenius,

Was there some intended significance in posting an image of the grave headstone of Ayn Rand when the subject of the thread is Richard Dawkins?

Do you think that they are somehow connected philosophically?

Do you know who Ayn Rand was?

i will concede #d, but does Dawkins differ from Rand on the following?
a) Reality is an objective absolute. Facts are better than man’s feelings, wishes, hopes, and fears.
b) Reason is the only way to perceive reality and the sole knowledge source. It is the only guide to action and means to survival.
c) Every person exists for their own sake. Pursuit of their own rational self-interest and their own happiness is their life’s moral purpose.
d) The ideal political-economic system is laissez-faire capitalism.

(note cheeky "shrug" reference)

[_MrStakhanovite]

Get Ayn Rand out of my thread.

[_Dr. Shades]

I don't get it.

Why does Richard Dawkins need to be Richard Swinburne?

[_The Dude]

Why would anyone recommend Dawkins to atheists? Better to recommend him to fence sitters, especially late high school and college-aged fence sitters. That's when I encountered him, and all for the better.

(Actually Carl Sagan and good science fiction had the greater influence on me at just the right time.)

I like Dawkins more for his science writing, but the God Delusion was pretty good too.
Dennett is great as a speaker when he has a fixed time limit but he goes on and on in his books.
Hitchens sucks. Somehow I get the feeling he is just pushing peoples' buttons.
Harris is still a noob. Well, okay I admit it - I haven't read anything by him yet.

[_Tarski]

Dennett is great as a speaker when he has a fixed time limit but he goes on and on in his books.

There is a reason he goes on and on. He is, in part, addressing people who have been arguing about this stuff and he is anticipating their objections. I imagine it would be much worse if he had to please Stak. lol

Personally, I think Dennett went on just the right amount. The reason is that I knew from some of his previous arguments with people where they try to attack him. He is heading them off at the pass and trying to make damn sure they don't misrepresent him or miss the point (again).

Also, I thought the final chapters of DDI were the best. Semiotic materialism! LOL

[_subgenius]

Get Ayn Rand out of my thread.

well, who brought up Dawkins' delusion then

[_Tarski]

Get Ayn Rand out of my thread.

well, who brought up Dawkins' delusion then

Umm, what? seriously?

The OP brought up Dawkins. The OP set the topic. Do you have any idea at all about how message boards work?

Maybe you just got your first internet connection last week or something so maybe I should point out that OP stands for "opening post".

[_Brackite]

I like Dawkins and have read many of his works and scanned others.

I think biologists are eminently qualified to speak on matters of faith and science. Dawkins is one of the better writers; better than Hitchins or Sam Harris.

Hey Yahoo Bot!!!
What do You think about this YouTube Video of Richard Dawkins???

Richard Dawkins talking about Mormonism and Joseph Smith:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d95M8jk3mv0