Has Sam Harris Gone Full Woo Guru Now?

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Has Sam Harris Gone Full Woo Guru Now?

Yes
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Total votes: 4

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NineBerry
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Has Sam Harris Gone Full Woo Guru Now?

Post by NineBerry » Mon Oct 08, 2018 10:54 pm

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Sean Hayden
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Re: Has Sam Harris Gone Full Woo Guru Now?

Post by Sean Hayden » Tue Oct 09, 2018 12:16 am

If you think really, really hard, and don't make mistakes you'll see things his way.

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Re: Has Sam Harris Gone Full Woo Guru Now?

Post by Hermit » Tue Oct 09, 2018 4:36 am

His advocacy of meditation/mindfulness does not bother me. The practice need not involve wooish elements, and I don't think Harris's version includes any. More worrying is his advocacy of a pre-emptive nuclear strike against Islam (which he denies in most unconvincingly manner) and his absurd concept of "objective morality". It is for those two reasons I regard him as a nutcase.

By the way, Harris describes himself as a neuroscientist. I cannot find any information about him being employed as such. All I could discover (per Wikipedia) is that he was awarded a BA (philosophy) from Stanford University in 2000 and a PhD (cognitive neuroscience) from the UCLA in 2009. His thesis was titled "The moral landscape: How science could determine human values". His own site, the page About Sam Harris is totally silent on his employment history. It only summarises his publications. Can anyone help me out?
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Re: Has Sam Harris Gone Full Woo Guru Now?

Post by JimC » Tue Oct 09, 2018 4:50 am

His early writings seemed OK, but his recent stuff is unconvincing. Evolutionary biology and neuroscience can provide a useful background for ethical decision making, as long as one is careful not to partake of the naturalistic fallacy...
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Re: Has Sam Harris Gone Full Woo Guru Now?

Post by pErvinalia » Tue Oct 09, 2018 5:24 am

Hermit x 2
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Re: Has Sam Harris Gone Full Woo Guru Now?

Post by Brian Peacock » Tue Oct 09, 2018 12:25 pm

Hermit wrote:His advocacy of meditation/mindfulness does not bother me. The practice need not involve wooish elements, and I don't think Harris's version includes any. More worrying is his advocacy of a pre-emptive nuclear strike against Islam (which he denies in most unconvincingly manner) and his absurd concept of "objective morality". It is for those two reasons I regard him as a nutcase.

By the way, Harris describes himself as a neuroscientist. I cannot find any information about him being employed as such. All I could discover (per Wikipedia) is that he was awarded a BA (philosophy) from Stanford University in 2000 and a PhD (cognitive neuroscience) from the UCLA in 2009. His thesis was titled "The moral landscape: How science could determine human values". His own site, the page About Sam Harris is totally silent on his employment history. It only summarises his publications. Can anyone help me out?
As nutcases go he's not really that nutty. He certainly ain't no bananaman.
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Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
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Re: Has Sam Harris Gone Full Woo Guru Now?

Post by Hermit » Tue Oct 09, 2018 12:56 pm

Brian Peacock wrote:
Tue Oct 09, 2018 12:25 pm
Hermit wrote:His advocacy of meditation/mindfulness does not bother me. The practice need not involve wooish elements, and I don't think Harris's version includes any. More worrying is his advocacy of a pre-emptive nuclear strike against Islam (which he denies in most unconvincingly manner) and his absurd concept of "objective morality". It is for those two reasons I regard him as a nutcase.

By the way, Harris describes himself as a neuroscientist. I cannot find any information about him being employed as such. All I could discover (per Wikipedia) is that he was awarded a BA (philosophy) from Stanford University in 2000 and a PhD (cognitive neuroscience) from the UCLA in 2009. His thesis was titled "The moral landscape: How science could determine human values". His own site, the page About Sam Harris is totally silent on his employment history. It only summarises his publications. Can anyone help me out?
As nutcases go he's not really that nutty. He certainly ain't no bananaman.
Parts of him are excellent.

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I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops. - Stephen J. Gould

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Re: Has Sam Harris Gone Full Woo Guru Now?

Post by Brian Peacock » Tue Apr 23, 2019 6:57 pm



:|
Rationalia relies on voluntary donations. There is no obligation of course, but if you value this place and want to see it continue please consider making a small donation towards the forum's running costs.
Details on how to do that can be found here.

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"It isn't necessary to imagine the world ending in fire or ice.
There are two other possibilities: one is paperwork, and the other is nostalgia."

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"This is how humanity ends; bickering over the irrelevant."
Clinton Huxley » 21 Jun 2012 » 14:10:36 GMT
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