Sam Harris' new book “The Moral Landscape” — will science prescribe morals?

Examiner ^ | Oct 4, 2010 AD | Mariano

[MarianoApologeticus]

...keep in mind that as you consider Dr. Sam Harris’ prescriptions for morality that this is the very same Sam Harris, supposed champion of reason (and now science) who prescribed capital punishment for thought crime,

Some propositions are so dangerous that it may even be ethical to kill people for believing them.

He also blames deaths of the 6,000,000 Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust on…on the Jews themselves:

The gravity of Jewish suffering over the ages, culminating in the Holocaust, makes it almost impossible to entertain any suggestion that Jews might have brought their troubles upon themselves. This is, however, in a rather narrow sense, the truth.

He also blamed the rape of Islamic women on Islamic taboos against rape...

[GeronL]

Sam Harris is insane

[circlecity]

Atheism is inherantly nihilistic so this is to be expected. Since there is no objective basis for atheistic morality, it will approve/disapprove of whatever the social fashion is at any given time. Without God the normative becomes the personal or the fashionable.

[samtheman]

The Moral Mudslide of Sam Harris.

[Liberty1970]

Some propositions are so dangerous that it may even be ethical to kill people for believing them.

I congratulate the village idiot, errh, Dr. Harris for his forthwright declaration of the atheist/Islamist mindset: Torture and kill anyone you don't agree with. It stands in stark contrast to the notion of free will - that people can be persuaded and change their minds as a result of arguments and new information. Such is implicit in the preaching of Christ and the gospel message of salvation, and the preaching of Paul and every other Christian missionary down through the ages.

The funny thing is, Harris believes his thoughts are just the deterministic products of random particle interactions in his brain. And he believes the same about everyone else's thoughts. So how can he claim that "his" random particle interactions are any 'better' than anyone elses' deterministic particle interactions?

[GunRunner]

"A 3-day-old human embryo is a collection of 150 cells called a blastocyst. There are, for the sake of comparison, more than 100,000 cells in the brain of a fly."

I think ESTR is overblown as a possible solution to diseases, and I don't support abortion on demand, but this is a statement of fact. I don't see why this is dehumanizing to human beings.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks MarianoApologeticus.

Dr. Sam Harris... "Some propositions are so dangerous that it may even be ethical to kill people for believing them... The gravity of Jewish suffering over the ages, culminating in the Holocaust, makes it almost impossible to entertain any suggestion that Jews might have brought their troubles upon themselves. This is, however, in a rather narrow sense, the truth." He also blamed the rape of Islamic women on Islamic taboos against rape...

Doctor of Scatology?