The Enigma of Reason

[Mr Arkadin]

Why did reason evolve? This is an interesting podcast by Dan Sperber (it's only 20 mins)

His thesis is that reason is not primarily truth seeking but a tool to aid communication- he argues reason only tends to be at work in a group setting. Whilst on your own people work purely on their intuitions.

Aspects of this line of thought could be synthesised with Trinitarian view- we work better, even think better in community. I myself find human interaction, either on forums, books or real people a good stimulus for critical thought. On my own I find it more difficult except when walking in the countryside when, I suppose, one could argue God speaks through nature.

I think Sperber's view to flawed but it would make sense given a naturalistic universe and consequently gives support for Plantinga's Evolutionary argument against it.

[shunyadragon]

Why did reason evolve? This is an interesting podcast by Dan Sperber (it's only 20 mins)

His thesis is that reason is not primarily truth seeking but a tool to aid communication- he argues reason only tends to be at work in a group setting. Whilst on your own people work purely on their intuitions.

Aspects of this line of thought could be synthesised with Trinitarian view- we work better, even think better in community. I myself find human interaction, either on forums, books or real people a good stimulus for critical thought. On my own I find it more difficult except when walking in the countryside when, I suppose, one could argue God speaks through nature.

I think Sperber's view to flawed but it would make sense given a naturalistic universe and consequently gives support for Plantinga's Evolutionary argument against it.

I will comment more on this after some more reading, but based on what I have looked at and read so far, I do not think you can conclude that the view is flawed.

The problem with Plantinga's argument is that assumes that it is necessary that human reasoning have a basis in determining 'truth.'

[JimL]

Why did reason evolve? This is an interesting podcast by Dan Sperber (it's only 20 mins)

His thesis is that reason is not primarily truth seeking but a tool to aid communication- he argues reason only tends to be at work in a group setting. Whilst on your own people work purely on their intuitions.

Aspects of this line of thought could be synthesised with Trinitarian view- we work better, even think better in community. I myself find human interaction, either on forums, books or real people a good stimulus for critical thought. On my own I find it more difficult except when walking in the countryside when, I suppose, one could argue God speaks through nature.

I think Sperber's view to flawed but it would make sense given a naturalistic universe and consequently gives support for Plantinga's Evolutionary argument against it.

I think it depends on how one defines reason. We can call it reasoning when we come to conclusions based on our subjective biases, but true reasoning would be to come to conclusions based on an objective consideration of the facts. In other words reasoning is just an ability we have, to what end it is used is dependent upon the reasoner.