OliverJDH's Debates: [clear]
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Winning Position: There is a good reason
This debate arises as the result of a previous debate over whether atheists are "intellectually dull" or simply inherit their views from their parents.
Rather than debate on the assumption that atheists are idiots, this debate is about whether or not atheists are in fact idiots.
You must PROVE that atheists have no grounds on which to stand, rather than simply ASSERT that they don't.
Likewise, atheists must give evidence (after all, it's what we do best) to support their beliefs, rather than denounce theists as morons...
Tied Positions: Rationalism vs. Empiricism
For those of you who don't know or aren't sure, here are a couple of very broad defintions:
Empiricism: All knowledge is derived from sensory experience.
Rationalism: All knowledge can be attained through the exercise of reason.
Descartes, Spinoza and Leibniz are famous rationalist philosophers.
Locke, Berkeley and Hume are famous empiricist philosophers.
I would count myself as an empiricist and am very interested to find out on which side of the debate CD members fall.
Winning Position: Unresolved
Inspired by the bbc documentary series "Masters of Money"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00z0yb2
For those unsure:
Keynes - spend your way out of a recession and intervene with the markets as much as you fancy.
Hayek - leave the markets alone. Don't go near them. Stop it. Leave it... Don't even think about setting that interest rate...