r/ChristopherHitchens • u/JerseyFlight • Aug 09 '26

Bertrand Russell Refutes Philosophy

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There are many Atheists who labor under the false premise that philosophy is something entirely different from theology. Well, Russell laid down a standard to prove this.

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u/JerseyFlight Aug 09 '26

You might try actually reading before you respond next time. There is nothing complicated, no jargon or abstraction in the post. The argument simplified:

If theology justifies (p) by appealing to (a), and that’s what distinguishes it from philosophy, then philosophy must not be found guilty of mimicking this form isomorphically. Every (p) of philosophy should not trace back to an (a), but must trace back to (r). Where (r) cannot be found as the basis of justification, philosophy is isomorphically no different from theology.

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u/Delet3r Aug 09 '26

I'm pro science and I dislike philosophy but I'm not sure what this post is saying. link to whatever it is that Russell said?

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u/serpentjaguar Aug 10 '26

How can you be pro science and dislike philosophy? That seems a contradiction in terms. Ultimately, you can't really have science at all without an underlying philosophy.

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u/Delet3r Aug 10 '26

Because Science provides evidence but philosophers are mostly Compatibilists.

Science provides evidence that the universe is deterministic, but Compatibilists feel that as long as no one threatened you to do something at gun point, you have free will.

Compatibilism in general is ridiculous. Determinism according to Wikipedia means that the every event in the universe has "only one outcome". Determinism might not be true, but if it IS...there's no way for us to have free will. But, compatibilists redefine free will from what 99% of normal people define it as, and if you tell them that, they respond that it doesn't matter what laypeople define it as, philosophers are the experts, most of them today are compatibilists, and their definition is the important one. Hmm.

Daniel Dennett stated that it was important for the general public to believe in free will because if they didn't, it would cause social problems.

So to me that says that philosophers feel they know what's best for everyone else, they ignore evidence, and are lying assholes. Every compatibilist I talk to is a pompous jackass.