Friday, January 20, 2012
nonplussedbyreligion: Russell’s argument In an article titled “Is There a God?” commissioned, but never published, by Illustrated magazine in 1952, Russell wrote: Many orthodox people speak as though it were the business of sceptics to disprove received dogmas rather than of dogmatists to prove them. This is, of course, a mistake. If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time. In 1958 Russell elaborated on the analogy as a reason for his own atheism: I ought to call myself an agnostic; but, for all practical purposes, I am an atheist. I do not think the existence of the Christian God any more probable than the existence of the Gods of Olympus or Valhalla. To take another illustration: nobody can prove that there is not between the Earth and Mars a china teapot revolving in an elliptical orbit, but nobody thinks this sufficiently likely to be taken into account in practice. I think the Christian God just as unlikely.

nonplussedbyreligion:

Russell’s argument

In an article titled “Is There a God?” commissioned, but never published, by Illustrated magazine in 1952, Russell wrote:

Many orthodox people speak as though it were the business of sceptics to disprove received dogmas rather than of dogmatists to prove them. This is, of course, a mistake. If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time.

In 1958 Russell elaborated on the analogy as a reason for his own atheism:

I ought to call myself an agnostic; but, for all practical purposes, I am an atheist. I do not think the existence of the Christian God any more probable than the existence of the Gods of Olympus or Valhalla. To take another illustration: nobody can prove that there is not between the Earth and Mars a china teapot revolving in an elliptical orbit, but nobody thinks this sufficiently likely to be taken into account in practice. I think the Christian God just as unlikely.
Posted at 3:03 PM 119 notes Reblogged from freethinkersalon

Notes

  1. premature-reincarnation reblogged this from transhumanisticpanspermia
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  5. humananatomy45 reblogged this from nonplussedbyreligion
  6. transhumanisticpanspermia reblogged this from the-mighty-chewbacca and added:
    My Facebook job listing is “Busser at Russell’s Cosmic Tea Shop.”
  7. ocontents reblogged this from the-mighty-chewbacca
  8. the-mighty-chewbacca reblogged this from obscuredbybespin
  9. torn-sheets reblogged this from nonplussedbyreligion
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  12. iliketurtlesmew reblogged this from nonplussedbyreligion
  13. zenodotus5 reblogged this from nonplussedbyreligion and added:
    Russell’s Teapot was an important part of my path towards atheism. Happy birthday. You live on in your ideas.
  14. kaitocain reblogged this from nonplussedbyreligion
  15. nonplussedbyreligion reblogged this from nonplussedbyreligion and added:
    Re-blogging this...Russell’s birthday. My other Russell posts can
  16. motifa reblogged this from fuckyeahliberalatheists
  17. braindr0ppings reblogged this from drjamie and added:
    Bertrand Russell……yes, please.
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