[Vision2020] Highly religious people are less motivated by compassion than are non-believers

[Paul Rumelhart]

When did people start conflating skepticism with arrogance and foolishness?  It should be the default outlook when anyone tells you anything that is in any way surprising.

Paul



________________________________
 From: Art Deco <art.deco.studios at gmail.com>
To: vision2020 at moscow.com 
Sent: Wednesday, May 2, 2012 9:19 AM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Highly religious people are less motivated by compassion than are non-believers
 

It's not enough to express skepticism without giving reasons.  Any fool can do that.

If you want to exhibit more than arrogance, criticize the experimental design of the multiple studies cited.  Such design are open to criticism as is any early experimental works on particular subjects.  In this case the lack of clear and precise definitions make unclear what is being measured.

However, as with many pioneering experimental work, the results are suggestive.  Now the methodology needs to be refined, and further, broader experiments pursued with more care and rigor.  That's how science works.  In the case of social and behavioral sciences, the struggle for clearer definitions and results is much more difficult than in the physical sciences because of the number of variables involved and the difficulty of isolating the variables.  That doesn't mean, however, that the search for knowledge in this area should be abandoned.

w.


On Wed, May 2, 2012 at 8:57 AM, Donovan Arnold <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com> wrote:

Yes, Chas, it seems far-fetched that such values could be so easily quantified and measured with any scientific accuracy or validity. 
> 
>Donovan Arnold
>
>
>From: Chasuk <chasuk at gmail.com>
>To: Donovan Arnold <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com> 
>Cc: Art Deco <art.deco.studios at gmail.com>; "vision2020 at moscow.com" <vision2020 at moscow.com> 
>Sent: Tuesday, May 1, 2012 8:33 AM
>Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Highly religious people are less motivated by compassion than are non-believers
>
>
>
>The study looked at generosity and charity, and tried to determine the motives behind those behaviors. It decided that the highly religious were driven towards acts of generosity and charity less often by empathy and compassion than were the non-religious/less religious. I'm skeptical that such a determination can legitimately be made.
>
>


-- 
Art Deco (Wayne A. Fox)
art.deco.studios at gmail.com

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