Josh asked:

Over the past two years I have been contemplating my own philosophies about life and am going to
write a 10 page english paper on them. Unfortunately, I have had a very hard time finding people who
share my own philosophies so it makes it harder for me to learn more about them. My question is if
anyone could tell me of any resources/authors that share my philosophies. Hear they are in a
nutshell.

I don't believe in any spiritual bodies.

I believe in the evolution of man.

I believe the meaning of life is merely to survive and reproduce because otherwise you will die and
your genes will no longer be around.

I believe good is what benefits that individuals/ groups survival and evil being the opposite. I believe
we are no different than animals except we have evolved to reason better than all other animals.

If you can help to point me in the direction of others who have thought similarly it will allow me to
learn much faster than if I had to figure everything out for myself.

============

Well Josh, from the evidence of your list, I don't figure on much of a chance of persuading you that
there is not much philosophyin your beliefs; and I can't quite tell whether your beliefs are founded on
hearsay or factual evidence. But I will assume the latter: I'll go on the assumption that you've read at
least a dozen or so well-argued books on the pros and cons of each of these points and formulated
(at least in your mind) some cogent arguments for them if ever you happen to be in company and
called upon to defend them.

Having said this, however, I must take issue with you immediately on Point 4, "we reason better than
animals". You must have written this in one hell of a hurry, for you cannot possibly be incognisant of
the fact that we do not reason "better" than other animals. We just reason; animals do not. There is
no basis for comparison.

And now that I come to think of it, I'm a bit uncomfortable with Point 1 as well. I don't believe in
spiritual bodies either; in fact, I wonder if anyone in the world does. I've always thought that people
who believed in ghosts and spirits, and God and Allah, thought of bodies as a species of things, and
the spirit as a species of non-things. But I guess what you mean is, you don't believe in ghosts etc.
Well, that makes two of us.

Point 2 also strikes me as dubiously expressed. You don't believe in ghosts, but you believe in
evolution. I wonder if you've ever actually stopped to think what evolution "is"? Obviously not a thing,
nor an occurrence: but what then is it? I might say, it's the same as stating, it's wet down here
because it just rained. I could write a lovely 'scientific' thesis proving that every time it rains,
something down here gets wet. Now you probably think I'm being frivolous, but if you did, you
guessed wrongly. I'm dead serious. Evolution is not a thing to "believe in", because it is just an
account of how the earth habitat changed as a result of living creatures occupying it, and how they in
turn are changed as a result of changing the habitat. But I'll give you one reason why one can't
"believe in it": there is no prognostication associated with it. Now this is a severe limitation. It's like
saying, in my example from before, gosh, things get wet when it rains, why can't we figure out when
the next rain shower is going to happen? Indeed: so why can't we figure out what kind of hominid is
going to evolve from us? Because evolution is not an exact science, but a scientific biohistory of this
planet. The big thing about it is nothing other than its explanatorypower, which is a great deal more
sophisticated than what religions used to dish up. But to say "I believe in evolution" is like saying, "I
believe in Gibbon's Fall of the Roman Empire". Better to say: I believe that it accounts adequately for
the existence of species on earth, and this is not, of course, compelling like the idea of a Creator God,
but still a matter which is 'in principle' subject to verification by appropriate research, whereas a God
is not.

Finally I should say a thing or two about your "belief in" reproduction and survival. You've actually got
a case there, moreover it's just a fact that all living things reproduce in order to preserve their species.
However, I now wish to ask you a counter question. Don't answer me, just think about it. The question
is: why don't chessmen and lead soldiers and plastic ducks reproduce?

Jürgen Lawrenz

Sydney

Start by looking here: http://www.skeptics.com.au/journal/journal.htm. This site will get you into the
world you're looking for. You might also look up: http://www.world-of-dawkins.com/default.asp. I think
you will find a very sympathetic community at these sites.

Steven Ravett Brown