Philosophical Musings

David Byrne places his entry for the 20th November in his Journal into the "Philosophical Musings" category. It’s an interesting read, ranging from climate change, the economy of China, to the wellsprings of religion. I do quibble with one thing he writes, however. He claims that Dawkins, Dennett and Harris "deny that the propensity for people to believe (i.e. have religious faith) is innate". He quotes the latest books by the trio as evidence of this denial.

 

That’s odd, because Dawkins’ "The God Delusion" has a whole chapter called The Roots of Religion, with over 40 pages exploring various hypotheses as to why religion may be innate. And while I haven’t read either of the latest books by Harris and Dennett, the latter has certainly explored hypotheses for the causes of religion – see the section: The Diversity of Darwinian Explanations in his book Freedom Evolves, for example.  Methinks David Byrne is the one in denial here.