Moving Naturalism Forward

I'm a Naturalist - not a naturist!

I have two main philosophical worldviews: Naturalism & Humanism. (world view: "a particular philosophy of life or conception of the world*")

Naturalism is "the philosophical belief that everything arises from natural properties and causes, and supernatural or spiritual explanations are excluded or discounted*"

(I think of atheism as a conviction rather than a worldview. I prefer 'conviction' to 'belief' because for me 'belief' has religious undertones, Although in English Law 'belief', as in 'religion and belief', refers specifically to a non-religious belief.)

Naturalism is a worldview that covers morality - Sam Harris makes the case that morality can be based on science.

*Oxford Dictionary (3rd Edition) 

h/t Neil Davies (April 2014) at Swindon Humanists for reminding me about the 'Moving Naturalism Forward' conference back in October 2012.

Attendees included Richard Dawkins, Sean Carroll, Dan Dennett, Alex Rosenberg, Jerry Coyne, Rebecca Newberger Goldstein, Massimo Pigliucci, Steven Weinberg.

Discussions were about: Naturalism, Morality, Meaning, Purpose, Epistemology, reductionism, Consciousness, Evolution, Determinism, Free will.

source: http://preposterousuniverse.com/naturalism2012/video.html

Imagine No Religion 3: Peter Boghossian - Street Epistemology + Q&A with LAAG

Peter Boghossian (PB) talks about dialectical http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialectical interventions which are designed to separate Faith (the virus) from its host (the faithful person).  The strategy for talking people out of their faith is called Street Epistemology. Rationality, reason and evidence should be used to determine what is good for people and their community, not Faith. In USA public policy is driven by Faith eg abstinence only sex education, prohibitions against gay marriage, bans on death with dignity, corporal punishment in schools, non-funding of family planning projects, promotion of creationism and other pseudosciences in school RE lessons.

PB talk comes from Chapter 4 (Interventions & Strategies) of his book, A Manual for Creating Atheists (Kindle £3.77, accessed 21st December 2013) gives tools to stop the spread of the faith virus.

Its an action plan for skeptical citizenship (2mins 57secs = 2:57), to align their views with reality, to move people away from Faith and superstition. PB has a framework and 9 strategies:-

Framework
The core of the framework of Street Epistemology is not about changing peoples beliefs (3:45) its about the way people form beliefs. Epistemology is the study of knowledge, its how you know what you know. Faith is an epistemology (4:25). Faith is belief without sufficient evidence (I use Peter Atkins phrase 'reliable evidence'), it's virtually impossible to prove a faith claim. His research was on behavioural change of prisoners (7:44).
Strategy 1: Meet People 'Where they Are' 
From 'Transtheoretical Model of Change' http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transtheoretical_model (8:21). 5 stages of change http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transtheoretical_model#Stages_of_change: 1) Precontemplation (Not ready to change) aka denial (I'd say 'delusional') 2) Contemplation (getting ready to change) 3) Preparation (ready to change) 4) Action 5) Maintenance. The goal is to meet people where they are and move them through these stages of change.
2: Non-Adversarial Relationships
People change pathological views from a position of safety. Set the tone of the conversation, the adult table. Use the right words eg We not You. Don't have a hint of the angry atheist, this will compromise the intervention (12:17). Relationship Evangelism (12:40) is used by Faithful but can be used to turn people to atheism and reason.
3: Reconceptualise faith as a virus
12:55m: I conceptualise Faith is a virus. The faithful are not well cognitively and they need our help. They are epistemic victims of some specious dangerous epistemology - way to come to knowledge. Our goal is help them trade an unreliable epistemology for a reliable epistemology - from an unreliable way to know the world to a reliable way to know the world. I'm not upset with somebody who has caught a cold, so to I'm not upset with somebody who has caught the faith virus (13:55). It is an epistemological sickness. Everyone in this room need more compassion and more understanding to try to help people move through these stages of change. This will also help to conceptualise Faith as a virus - so we don't develop adversarial relationships (14.30).
4. Faith not god
Strategies 4-6 are prohibitions. God is a conclusion one has based on an unreliable epistemology (14:39). Faith not God (15:24). Don't address the symptom, address the underlying illness. The faith virus is the belief in God (15:49).
5. Faith not religion
Don't address religion, address faith. Community is wedded to religion. Take away faith and everything built upon it is severely compromised (16:55).
6. Faith not politics
How do you know that's true? (17:32)
7. Avoid Facts (in Precomplentative stage)
Don't bring facts into discussion when people are precomplentative (18:18).
8. Bring Focus back to epistemology
Focus on epistemology, don't be sidetracked (20:49)
Strategy 9. Divorce belief from morality
Defense mechanism of faith is that any challenge to it is immoral (22:19) They think that having faith makes them a moral person.

Interventions
(moving on from Chapter 4) (25:40). When flying sit in the middle chair. Be sincere. Don't talk about yourself. Ask a question that establishes a rapport. Then begin the intervention eg if reading the bible. Many diagnostic questions. Then ask 'Did Jesus walk on water?' 'How sure of that are you?' 90% = precontemplative (don't use facts!), 80%=contemplative, 60%=Preparative. How would someone know that? It's in the bible. (don't talk about existence of god or evolution). [Peter has done 'street epistemology for 25 years, several hours each day!] They say 'I feel it in my heart'. Validate their experience. Dissassociate feel with cause. What do you think of people in other faith traditions? Keep focused on epistemology. How do they know this.

You have to be genuinely willing to reconsider your beliefs. But ... Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence (Carl Sagan).

Instead of a replacement 4th Horsemen we can have millions of Street Epistemologists. (35:00)

Questions to 35:00-55:00

Ayn Rand Objectivism

i reposted my post above on HASSERS: http://hassers.blogspot.com/2008/03/ethics-and-humanist-moral-objectivism.html
and got an interesting comment from The Objectivist Club at UCI (Ayn Rand Institute). They included a link to a video on Moral Absolutism (Reason v Faith): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1z87IeNbLA0
in which the speaker is asked how you can decide between right and wrong / good and bad in the absence of God.

The basis of Ayn Rand Objectivism according to http://www.aynrand.org/site/PageServer?pagename=objectivism_essentials
is:-

Metaphysics .. the task of man's consciousness is to perceive reality, not to create or invent it." Thus Objectivism rejects any belief in the supernatural.

Epistemology
"Man's reason is fully competent to know the facts of reality. Reason is man's only means of acquiring knowledge." Objectivism rejects mysticism (any acceptance of faith or feeling as a means of knowledge), and it rejects skepticism (the claim that certainty or knowledge is impossible).

Human Nature
Man is a rational being. Reason, as man's only means of knowledge, is his basic means of survival. But the exercise of reason depends on each individual's choice. "Man is a being of volitional consciousness." "That which you call your soul or spirit is your consciousness, and that which you call 'free will' is your mind's freedom to think or not, the only will you have, your only freedom. This is the choice that controls all the choices you make and determines your life and character."Thus Objectivism rejects any form of determinism, the belief that man is a victim of forces beyond his control (such as God, fate, upbringing, genes, or economic conditions).

Ethics
"Reason is man's only proper judge of values and his only proper guide to action. The proper standard of ethics is: man's survival qua man—i.e., that which is required by man's nature for his survival as a rational being (not his momentary physical survival as a mindless brute). Rationality is man's basic virtue, and his three fundamental values are: reason, purpose, self-esteem. Man—every man—is an end in himself, not a means to the ends of others; he must live for his own sake, neither sacrificing himself to others nor sacrificing others to himself; he must work for his rational self-interest, with the achievement of his own happiness as the highest moral purpose of his life." Thus Objectivism rejects any form of altruism—the claim that morality consists in living for others or for society.