{"id":5794,"date":"2012-11-10T13:53:39","date_gmt":"2012-11-10T18:53:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/?p=5794"},"modified":"2012-11-10T14:01:48","modified_gmt":"2012-11-10T19:01:48","slug":"steelmanning-one-of-dennetts-arguments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/unequallyyoked\/2012\/11\/steelmanning-one-of-dennetts-arguments.html","title":{"rendered":"Steelmanning one of Dennett’s arguments"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This post is part of\u00a0a series discussing Daniel Dennett\u2019s\u00a0<\/a><\/em>Breaking the Spell<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Back in the cultural history of religion sections of the book, Dennett touches on\u00a0a very powerful argument against religion. \u00a0He writes:<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd here is an interesting fact: the transition between folk religion to organized religion is marked by a shift in beliefs from those with very clear, concrete consequences to those with systematically elusive consequences\u2013paying lip service is just about the only way you can<\/em> act on them\u2026<\/p>\n

But what could you do to show that you really believe that the wine in the chalice has been transformed into the blood of Christ?\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Then the argument went a little awry in a way that would have caused him to flunk his own exam for scholars of religion<\/a>:<\/p>\n

You could bet a large sum of money on it and then to send the wine to the biology lab to see if there was hemoglobin in it (and recover the genome of Jesus from the DNA in the bargain!)\u2013except the creed has been cleverly\u00a0shielded\u00a0from just such concrete tests. It would be a sacrilege to remove the wine from the ceremony and, besides, taking the wine out of the holy context would surely untransubstantiate it, turning it back into ordinary wine. There is really only one action you can take to demonstrate this belief: you can say<\/em> that you believe it, over and over, as fervently as the occasion demands.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Dennett is proposing a testing a quality of the Eucharist that Catholics don\u2019t think exists. \u00a0We went over this<\/a> during the argument about PZ Myers\u00a0desecrating\u00a0a Host. \u00a0 Transubstantiation is changing the essence of the bread and the wine while leaving their accidents (everything accessible to the senses) unchanged. \u00a0If wine changed its accidents into blood (Christ\u2019s or anyone elses) that would be, as far as I\u2019m concerned,\u00a0transfiguration<\/em>, and you should take it up with Professor McGonegal, not the Pontiff.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s too bad Dennett made this mistake, since the facts actually support his point better than the error does. \u00a0A change in\u00a0accident<\/em> is empirically verifiable. \u00a0A change in\u00a0essence<\/em> is not. \u00a0Catholicism isn\u2019t denying Dennett and others the chance to test it\u2019s claims with regard to the Eucharist, it\u2019s making claims that are empirically unverifiable.<\/p>\n

A religion that retreats to Invisible Garage Dragon claims<\/a> is a lot harder to debunk, but it\u2019s hard not to see that as a defensive, besieged move. \u00a0A religion that says nothing touching the natural world or human lives can\u2019t offer much in the way of moral philosophy. \u00a0I like\u00a0Overheard at Yale Div School\u2019s take on this<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cAny faith tradition worth its salt will tell you what to do with your food, your time, your genitals, and your money. Otherwise it\u2019s not a real religion.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Once a religion shrinks its claims down to the size of, say,\u00a0moral therapeutic deism<\/a>, there\u2019s not enough\u00a0there<\/em> there to do more than pay lip service, as Dennett says, and then there\u2019s little reason to just keep professing belief in belief<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I did not convert because of empirically testable claims about Catholicism. \u00a0There may be miraculous cures that ought to convince atheists, but I haven\u2019t encountered them. \u00a0 Starting from an atheist prior, a spontaneous remission or other ideopathic healing might be surprising, but not surprising enough to outweigh the prior estimate of the improbability of God. \u00a0But there are other kinds of claims to examine.<\/p>\n

Some are the more abstract philosophical claims for the necessity of God, which are interesting, but not accessible or urgent feeling unless you have a strong scholastic bent. \u00a0But religions also make moral claims, and that\u2019s where, a la Chesterton, we can try and see whether a theology is a truth-telling thing<\/a>. \u00a0Is it self-consistent? \u00a0Does it cover the things you already know to be true? \u00a0Where it makes different moral claims, do they turn out, on further inspection, to be right after all?<\/p>\n

This kind of investigation is more akin to how a chess novice would recognize Kasparov as proficient<\/a>. \u00a0The novice doesn\u2019t have the skill to discern whether each move is clever or foolish, but she can see that Kasparov\u00a0keeps winning<\/em>. \u00a0Correct moral judgement is less obvious than checkmate, but the general idea is the same. \u00a0It\u2019s the problem of finding a teacher when you know that you\u2019re deficient in the subject of instruction. \u00a0And these moral claims do require more than lip service.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This post is part of\u00a0a series discussing Daniel Dennett\u2019s\u00a0Breaking the Spell. Back in the cultural history of religion sections of the book, Dennett touches on\u00a0a very powerful argument against religion. \u00a0He writes: \u201cAnd here is an interesting fact: the transition between folk religion to organized religion is marked by a shift in beliefs from those […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":5796,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,176,8],"tags":[39],"class_list":["post-5794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-atheism","category-conversion-2","category-reviewsrecommendations","tag-freedom-means-choosing-a-master"],"yoast_head":"\nSteelmanning one of Dennett's arguments<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This post is part of\u00a0a series discussing Daniel Dennett\u2019s\u00a0Breaking the Spell. 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