EFTA02488419.pdf

From: jeffrey E. <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, September 10, 2015 7:02 PM To: Noam Chomsky Cc: Lawrence Krauss; Subject: Re: an article you may both hate. or like. I think religion plays a major positive role in many lives= . i dont like fanaticism on either side.. sorry On Thu, Sep 10, 2015=at 7:52 PM, Noam Chomsky < <maia» wrote: Thanks for sending. A wide area=of agreement, but not total. On confronting dogma, I of course agr=e — though in my opinion the secular religions — nationali=t fanaticism, etc. — are much more dangerous. And if some fi=d rational discussion offensive — as, for example, mainstream academ=cs find dismantling myths of "American exceptionalism" or =E2 Israeli self-defense" or Obama's mass murder campa=gn, etc., offensive — so be it. But I don't see why that shou=d extend to ridicule. That includes astrologists. Astronomers =an refute astrology, while recognizing that perfectly honest and deluded people may believe it and should be treated with respect, while th=ir beliefs are confronted with evidence. I also don't see wh= we should ridicule religious dogma, just as I don't think we shou=d ridicule the much more pernicious secular dogmas. Rather, we should respond to irrational belief with argument and evidence,=while recognizing that their advocates (like most of the intellectual worl= in the case of secular dogma) are people who we should be responding to b=t without ridiculing them. It may be hard sometimes. For example, when the icon and founding fathe= of sober non-sentimental Realism in International Affairs informs us that=the US, unlike other countries, has a "transcendental purpose, =80 and the fact that it constantly acts in contradiction to its purpose doesn't matter because the facts are just "=buse of history" while real history is "the evidence of history as our minds reflect=it," then it's hard to avoid ridicule. But we should= There's no point ridiculing virtually the entire IR profession and=the major journals, even though such extraordinary irrationality leads to =ajor human disasters. On Davis, I frankly think that =99s a non-issue. If she decides she cannot do her job as the conditi=ns of employment require (including following the law), then she can quit and look for another job. As in any other such case.=/u> Noam From: Lawrence Krauss [mailto EFTA_R1_01608410 EFTA02488419 Sent: Thursday, September 10, 2015 1:51 AM To: Noam Chomsky < <mailto »; Jeffrey E. <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]» Subject: an article you may both hate. or like. =AO hope all is well. Lawrence http://www.new=orker.com/news/news-desk/all-scientists-should-be-militant-atheists chttp://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/a=l-scientists-should-be-militant-atheists> =/u> Lawrence M. Krauss Director, The Origins Project at ASU Co-Director, Cosmology Initiative Foundation Professor School of Earth & Space Exploration and Physics Department Arizona State University, P.O. Box =71404, Tempe, AZ 85287-1404 please =ote 2 EFTA_R1_01608411 EFTA02488420 The information contained in this communication is confiden=ial, may be attorney-client privileged, may constitute inside informati=n, and is intended only for the use of the addressee. It is the propert= of JEE Unauthorized use, disclosure or copying of this communica=ion or any part thereof is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. If =ou have received this communication in error, please notify us immediat=ly by return e-mail or by e-mail to [email protected] <mailto:jeevacation@gmail=com> , and destroy this comm=nication and all copies thereof, including all attachments. copyright -=11 rights reserved 3 EFTA_R1_01608412 EFTA02488421