[MD] a-theism and atheism

[John Carl]

dave,

A response has been rattling around in my head the last few days.  A social
response and an intellectual one.  As usual, they are at odds with one
another.


dmb says:
> Wow. That's surprising and even a bit impressive. It's courageous to take
> responsibility and correct to say it's unfair to do otherwise.
>

My social response is gratitude over some affirmation for a change, so
thanks for that.  My intellectual response however, is disagreement with
your projection.  It doesn't take courage for me to correct myself anymore
than it takes courage for a poor man to risk all his capital.  Since I have
no real "social capital", it costs me nothing to risk what I don't have.
The fact that you see it as courageous, illustrates to me exactly the
problems I perceive with the way concerns over reputation that the academy
engenders, has a tendency to elicit intellectual "immoral behavior".




> Plus we really don't want social concerns to have any real power in a place
> like this. That would be a form of corruption because it's supposed to be
> all about the intellectual quality.



Exactly!  But "a place like this" is not exactly it's own private world, is
it.  All these words end up in searchable archives, where academic enemies
or students or peers or judges can find them and use them against you.  Thus
there is a very real danger to those who have an academic reputation to
uphold - for in the end, any academic success is going to be undermined or
fostered by the bad or good reputation.  Which is really, unfair and also a
good illustration of why "it's harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of
heaven".



> Not that it's wrong to make friends of course, but that shouldn't be a
> factor in deciding which ideas are accepted or not. So don't buy into it.
>
>
Well, obviously, I don't.  I've got my own defense mechanisms firmly in
place.  Nobody can lower the status of a man who takes up the mantle of
"poor white trash".  :-)

Happy Holidays, dave,  looking forward to more intellectual wrangling,
hopefully with a bit more social gentlemanliness in future.

John