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Quote by George Pattison

“Religious life is about something real in human experience that is not constrained by what Wittgenstein called 'all that is the case'. In this sense Heidegger is not simply 'mistaken' - he just asks us, as philosophers mostly do, to think more carefully about what we're saying.”

Quote by George Pattison

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George Pattison

George Pattison, born in 1950, is an individual whose profession and category remain unknown. more

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“But why should a religious person be interested in a work like Heidegger's that many regard as the epitome of nihilism? For a start, because Heidegger forces us in a way that few philosophers do to really think through the seriousness and all-encompassing nature of our mortality.”

Thinking Way Should Persons Force Religious Regard Philosopher Mortality Seriousness Nihilism Epitome Religious Person Heidegger

Author:George Pattison

“Positively, he [Heidegger] shows that the prospect of death doesn't of itself destroy all possibilities of meaning but calls instead for these to be relocated from fantasies about a future post-mortem life. However, I don't think he does enough in this work to show that this relocation has - I believe - a primarily ethical character (in Levinas's sense of 'ethical').”

Thinking Believe Doe Enough Character Shows I Believe Fantasy Possibility Posts Ethical Positively Heidegger

Author:George Pattison

“In brief, I regard love as a more decisive focus of meaning than death. In terms of Heidegger's argument, this is because I think he misdescribes the importance of the deaths of others and focuses exclusively on my relation to my own death. But, in reality, the deaths of others have a more urgent and immediate impact on our lives than the purely notional knowledge that I too will one day die.”

Thinking Reality Dies Term My Own Focus Our Lives One Day Argument Importance Relation Regard Impact Urgent Heidegger

Author:George Pattison

“Ethics arises in the recognition of our obligation to care for others as beings, like us, exposed to mortality - that is, beings who need our help. Buddhism, not wrongly, extends this to 'all sentient beings'.”

Needs Helping Care Buddhism Ethics Arise Obligation Recognition Mortality Exposed Sentient Beings

Author:George Pattison

“Of course, it's always difficult to disentangle fact from fiction in relation to, e.g., the singularity project. Many scientists I know are dismissive of transhumanist claims, BUT the last 100 years has surely taught us never to underestimate the pace and scope of scientific progress. However, even if much of this turns out to be science-fiction, it also reveals a way of thinking about human life that I find deeply troubling.”

“When I'm on the operating table, I'm happy for the surgeon to treat me as a machine, but the moment I return to consciousness I have other needs and aspirations that should be recognized. We're not here only to survive or extend our individual or species life but to do something seemingly more difficult, for which I've used words and phrases like 'love' and the 'Kingdom of God'.”

Needs Should Moments Used Individual Difficult Consciousness Return Machines Treats Tables Species Kingdoms Phrases Aspiration Kingdom Of God Surgeons Like Love

Author:George Pattison

“I think he [Heidegger] sets the question up in a useful way and, despite appearances, he's not 'against' technology. He just wants us to have a questioning and thoughtful relation to it. This must be relevant to any approach.”

Thinking Way Want Technology Approach Relation Appearance Despite Thoughtful Relevant Questioning Want U Heidegger

Author:George Pattison

“Essentially I see the new atheism as largely part of the crisis of the left. Having failed to carry through its agenda in relation to political and economic life it's rounding on religion, ignoring the fact that, in some key respects, many believers are likely to share leftist aspirations.”

Facts Political Left Share Atheism Economic Keys Relation Crisis Believer Aspiration Agendas Leftists

Author:George Pattison

“One of the most violent attacks on the Church in the Soviet Union was under Kruschev when, during a period of economic and political liberalization, he attacked the Church to demonstrate to old Party members that he hadn't lost it.”

Political Lost Church Party Economic Periods Members Unions Violent Soviet Soviet Union

Author:George Pattison

“At a theoretical level, I think a naturalist approach to religion is just asking questions I'm not interested in. They're perfectly legitimate in their own terms, but they don't address the actual experience of how one or other aspect of religion becomes existentially meaningful to us in our actual lives. The fact that we ourselves are the subject of investigation makes all the difference.”

Thinking Facts Term Differences Levels Subjects Approach Aspect Asking Meaningful Addresses Investigation Not Interested Theoretical Asking Questions Naturalist Actual Life

Author:George Pattison