Reply #219: That's actually not true. [View All]

[Unvanguard]

Freedom is explicitly connected to rationality, both in political theory and political practice: note the justifications for restraining the freedom of children, or for ruling over foreign "savages."

While it is true that homosexuality (or any other sexual orientation) is not a product of reason, if instead it were the case that gay people were not rational, just as with children their demands for justice would rightly be regarded with skepticism. Being irrational, their demands would have no reasons behind them, so others certainly would have no reason to respect them.

Your remark about Dawkins' political position on violence is irrelevant, for reasons already mentioned.

On the contrary - Dawkins has made the point numerous times that he is not - contrary to your assumption - infallable and that he could be wrong. He does not think he is wrong on the strength of his understanding of all the evidence he has seen. This is what he says. Not, "I'm right and you're stupid and irrational," he says, "the evidence leads me to this conclusion."

I never said he thought he was infallible. What I said was that he insists he is right (on this topic), which is quite a different thing. My point is that if the basis for his position is that human beings are generally deluded and irrational, he should be in serious doubt about his own capacity to rationally examine evidence, and thus about any conclusion he comes to--unless, like most people who condemn the stupidity and ignorance of human beings, he believes that such descriptions merely apply to lesser beings.