You are either a rational human being or you are an animal.

[no-one-particular]

2 kinds of people. Rational and irrational.

You are either a rational human being or you are an animal.

All other distinctions are trivial and unimportant.

Humans reason. Animals project.

Humans know. Animals believe.

Atheists and theists = animals. That's why I don't consider myself to be either one.

 

[Keith&Co.]

Humans reason. Animals project.

Atheists and theists = animals. That's why I don't consider myself to be either one.

So, you say you never project?

If I say I'm an atheist, you know I am irrational because I use that label, and you know everyone under that label does that thing?
But you don't project?

Okay. Good to know.

 

[abaddon]

2 kinds of people. Rational and irrational.

You are either a rational human being or you are an animal.

All other distinctions are trivial and unimportant.

Humans reason. Animals project.

Atheists and theists = animals. That's why I don't consider myself to be either one.

That's a bit simple.

All humans project. They can somewhat choose to withhold doing it in their efforts to be rational.

Atheism is when people don't project some certain psychological content out onto the universe.

 

[T.G.G. Moogly]

2 kinds of people. Rational and irrational.

You are either a rational human being or you are an animal.

All other distinctions are trivial and unimportant.

Humans reason. Animals project.

Atheists and theists = animals. That's why I don't consider myself to be either one.

Human beings are animals, not plants.

When we operate emotionally and instinctively I think we're more the "animal" you have in mind. It's impossible to entirely restrain the emotional part of ourselves. Sometimes I see our emotions as a disorder, not a desirable condition.

So you consider yourself a human being?

 

[PyramidHead]

Hi everybody, I have two broad brushes that I'm gonna use to paint all of you one color or another, then I'm gonna use a third broad brush to paint them both a third color, and by the way you need a whole palette to paint me and by the way don't project!

 

[funinspace]

2 kinds of people. Rational and irrational.

You are either a rational human being or you are an animal.

All other distinctions are trivial and unimportant.

Humans reason. Animals project.

Atheists and theists = animals. That's why I don't consider myself to be either one.

There are only 10 kinds of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don’t.

 

[ideologyhunter]

OP: Could you share with us your grades from h.s. biology? I'm an atheist, rationalist, materialist, however you want to slice it, and I'd like the data. Also, you're not an animal...let's rule out houseplant. Are you a super virus by chance? Did I get that right?

 

[connick]

2 kinds of people. Rational and irrational.

You are either a rational human being or you are an animal.

All other distinctions are trivial and unimportant.

Humans reason. Animals project.

Humans know. Animals believe.

Atheists and theists = animals. That's why I don't consider myself to be either one.

This seems pretty profound. Unfortunately, I can't really follow your reasoning.

The bifurcation of people into only rational and irrational appears to imply that people are wholly one or the other. Can people be rational sometimes and irrational at other times? What are the requirements for being a rational or irrational person?

As has been mentioned by others, all humans are animals, so you must mean something other than the Linnaean classification. Are you just using it as a pejorative where "savages" or "cretins" might as easily fit?

To say that all other distinctions are trivial and unimportant seems pretty radical. I can think of a lot of other distinctions that are incredibly important. Even being tall enough to ride a rollercoaster can be of vital importance.



Why is it that you call theists and atheists "animals"? Can neither be rational?

In terms of being rational, irrational, atheist and theist, how would you describe yourself?

I'm looking forward to some sort of explanation of your position!

 

[steve_bank]

Woof woof. Rational just means the capacity to act in your own interest.

Smokers are not rational.

 

[bilby]

2 kinds of people. Rational and irrational.

You are either a rational human being or you are an animal.

All other distinctions are trivial and unimportant.

Humans reason. Animals project.

Atheists and theists = animals. That's why I don't consider myself to be either one.

There are only 10 kinds of people in the world: Those who understand binary, and those who don’t.

There are billions of different people in the world: Those who understand the false dichotomy fallacy, and those who don't.

 

[braces_for_impact]

2 kinds of people. Rational and irrational.

You are either a rational human being or you are an animal.

All other distinctions are trivial and unimportant.

Humans reason. Animals project.

Humans know. Animals believe.

Atheists and theists = animals. That's why I don't consider myself to be either one.

OK. Please show the sound reasoning you used to come to this conclusion or admit that you are in fact, an animal. Because off the top of my head, I see a false dilemma, a statement of mere opinion as if fact, some hasty generalizations, and a whole lotta ego.

 

[southernhybrid]

The OP doesn't make any sense. For one thing, there is plenty of evidence that non human animals are capable of rational thinking.

If you don't like my source, there are numerous others that concur.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/11/171101151206.htm

Cameron Buckner, assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Houston, argues in an article published in Philosophy and Phenomenological Research that a wide range of animal species exhibit so-called "executive control" when it comes to making decisions, consciously considering their goals and ways to satisfy those goals before acting.

He acknowledges that language is required for some sophisticated forms of metacognition, or thinking about thinking. But bolstered by a review of previously published research, Buckner concludes that a wide variety of animals -- elephants, chimpanzees, ravens and lions, among others -- engage in rational decision-making.

"These data suggest that not only do some animals have a subjective take on the suitability of the option they are evaluating for their goal, they possess a subjective, internal signal regarding their confidence in this take that can be deployed to select amongst different options," he wrote.

The question has been debated since the days of the ancient philosophers, as people considered what it means to be human. One way to address that, Buckner said, is to determine exactly what sets humans apart from other animals.

In many ways, non human animals are a lot more rational than humans. Humans not only believe in irrational things, they often make very poor decisions on a daily basis. Animals seem to be more rational about a lot of things and afaik, they don't believe in gods. So, I have no idea why the OP equates irrationality with animals, when it's humans that are often the more irrational species.

 

[Elixir]

Humans reason. Animals project.

Crows are human, then.

 

[Jobar]

 

[Underseer]

2 kinds of people. Rational and irrational.

You are either a rational human being or you are an animal.

All other distinctions are trivial and unimportant.

Humans reason. Animals project.

Humans know. Animals believe.

Atheists and theists = animals. That's why I don't consider myself to be either one.

1. All humans are animals. All humans are apes, all apes are monkeys, all monkeys are primates, all primates are mammals, all mammals are vertebrates, all vertebrates are animals. Humans have to eat living or formerly living material to survive, we inhale O₂ and exhale CO₂, and our cells stick to each other using collagen. We're animals.
2. All humans are irrational. Even when we think we're being cold and rational, often our decisions are just snap decisions based on instinct, emotion, and a big ol' list of cognitive biases.
3. Humans know jack and shit. The foundation of Western philosophy is that we know nothing. All we have are good guesses and have to live with the fact that we could be wrong about anything. We are limited by flawed senses, a brain that makes flawed analysis of what the senses report, we think in languages that restrict our thoughts, and once we start thinking, there's that big list of cognitive biases that get in the way. We can be more or less confident in a given proposition, but can't be completely confident about any of them.

Sorry for the thread necromancy, but I stumbled on this thread while looking for something else.

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View attachment 15811

Group A: Leprechauns are definitely real!
Group B: You can't possibly prove that!
OP: Both sides are just as bad! I'm intellectually superior because I don't fully agree with either side! Because I'm not an extremist!

 

[phands]

2 kinds of people. Rational and irrational.

Utter garbage. False premise. People can be rational and irrational at the same time.

You are either a rational human being or you are an animal.

More crap. Your own first line says that there are irrational human beings as well....but they are still humans, their genome says so. Another false equivalency.

All other distinctions are trivial and unimportant.

Arrant nonsense...except perhaps in your warped monosynaptic cranium.

Humans reason. Animals project.

Many humans don't reason at all...they just react. And WTF does animals "project" mean? You need a dictionary too.
One definition of project is "to ascribe one's own feelings, thoughts, or attitudes to others." Animals don't do that. Humans often do.

Humans know. Animals believe.

Wrong again...most humans believe lots of stuff...some of it even right, but animals don't.

Atheists and theists = animals. That's why I don't consider myself to be either one.

Don't give up your day job, if you have one, you're crap at logic and reasonimng.

 

[bilby]

2 kinds of people. Rational and irrational.

You are either a rational human being or you are an animal.

All other distinctions are trivial and unimportant.

Humans reason. Animals project.

Humans know. Animals believe.

Atheists and theists = animals. That's why I don't consider myself to be either one.

So, in summary, "If you don't agree with me, you are subhuman".

Well, it's a common enough sentiment; But a glance at history suggests that it can have some remarkably bad consequences when people don't realise that it's utter bollocks.