About Me
- Russell Blackford
- Australian philosopher, literary critic, legal scholar, and professional writer. Based in Newcastle, NSW. My latest books are THE TYRANNY OF OPINION: CONFORMITY AND THE FUTURE OF LIBERALISM (2019); AT THE DAWN OF A GREAT TRANSITION: THE QUESTION OF RADICAL ENHANCEMENT (2021); and HOW WE BECAME POST-LIBERAL: THE RISE AND FALL OF TOLERATION (2024).
7 comments:
I had trouble with your link. The direct link is here: http://mpegmedia.abc.net.au/ra/podcast/breakfastclub/20091119.mp3
Hmm, the link works for me, but try pasting in that link provided by Anonymous if you have trouble.
The link works well for me.
I am currently reading "50 Voices of Disbelief" and I just read "Antinomies" by Jack Dann.
This essay is the most impressive so far for me. I looked up Dann and emailed him to tell him how much his essay means to me.
Jack will be really appreciative of that.
It was rather interesting for me to read the blog. Thanks for it. I like such topics and anything that is connected to them. I definitely want to read more soon.
Great interview. Odd, though, it seems to me, how people just assume that the stories in the OT must be, in some sense, true, so they have to find believeable explanations for things that their reason can no longer accept. Curious, too, to think that, just because someone says, "This is where Jesus was buried," or "This is Moses' staff," this somehow confirms the ancient stories.
I'm making my meandering way through "50 Voices". It really is a great collection of essays. Thanks. Udo's is very special, and says things that needed saying very badly. I had a particularly happy "Aha!" moment in reading Adèle Mercier's contribution, where she says, "Religion is all about believing one's beliefs are right, not about having right beliefs."
Remembering my own journeys in faith, which should have ended long before they did, it struck me very powerfully how accurate this is. This is why religious disagreements are so powerful and destructive. If it were a matter of having right beliefs one could repose confidently in one's chosen path, no matter what others might say. Second order beliefs are much more important to the religious than the first order beliefs they think they believe in. Why else would they be offended by being told (implicitly or explicitly) that their beliefs are wrong (if they really believe them)? It seems so obvious. Why didn't it before?
Hey, Bob, thanks for your comment! Cheers, --Jack Dann
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