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NL888 Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
Does "sanity in numbers" mean "plenty of sanity/normal powers of mind"?
Context:
Harris continues by examining the nature of belief itself, challenging the notion that we can in any sense enjoy freedom of belief, and arguing that "belief is a fount of action in potentia." Instead he posits that in order to be useful, beliefs must be both logically coherent, and truly representative of the real world. Insofar as religious belief fails to ground itself in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empirical evidence, Harris likens religion to a form of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_illness which, he says, "allows otherwise normal human beings to reap the fruits of madness and consider them holy." He argues that there may be "sanity in numbers", but that it is "merely an accident of history that it is considered normal in our society to believe that the Creator of the universe can hear your prayers, while it is demonstrative of mental illness to believe that he is communicating with you by having the rain tap in Morse code on your bedroom window."
Harris continues by examining the nature of belief itself, challenging the notion that we can in any sense enjoy freedom of belief, and arguing that "belief is a fount of action in potentia." Instead he posits that in order to be useful, beliefs must be both logically coherent, and truly representative of the real world. Insofar as religious belief fails to ground itself in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empirical evidence, Harris likens religion to a form of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mental_illness which, he says, "allows otherwise normal human beings to reap the fruits of madness and consider them holy." He argues that there may be "sanity in numbers", but that it is "merely an accident of history that it is considered normal in our society to believe that the Creator of the universe can hear your prayers, while it is demonstrative of mental illness to believe that he is communicating with you by having the rain tap in Morse code on your bedroom window."
Top answer
No. The meaning is not completely clear to me, but I take it thus. There are lots of people with religious beliefs, so this makes them think they are sane rather than irrational.
- No.
- The meaning is not completely clear to me, but I take it thus.
- There are lots of people with religious beliefs, so this makes them think they are sane rather than irrational.
- Clive
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1 Answers
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No.
The meaning is not completely clear to me, but I take it thus. There are lots of people with religious beliefs, so this makes them think they are sane rather than irrational.
Clive
The meaning is not completely clear to me, but I take it thus. There are lots of people with religious beliefs, so this makes them think they are sane rather than irrational.
Clive
0
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