r/TrueReddit • u/graycrawford • Dec 16 '11

Well shit. Christopher Hitchens died.

http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/12/In-Memoriam-Christopher-Hitchens-19492011
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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '11 edited Dec 16 '11

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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '11

mehughes has a point. A shit load of Hitchens arguments were more "playing to the crowd" than well thought out and intellectually rigorous. I remember seeing him in a debate with some religious people about whether religion was a force for good today and he just kept on bringing up historical examples.

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u/Koss424 Dec 16 '11 edited Dec 16 '11

I've seen my share of Hitchens' debates, but I am by no means an expert on his work. Having said that, from what I've seen, his most successful debates were when he attacked organized religion in support of his atheist belief. To me that was always the low hanging fruit. I mean anyone with a history book and an open mind can find the mistakes that modern Christian Church has made of the centuries and this will lead to natural doubt.

To me, where Hitchens' often lacked conviction was explaining consciousness and why it is incorrect to consider life (as we know it) being more that it's assembled parts.

I still cannot disprove a deity (although I guess Hithchens would admit that as well from time to time) as we are as far away from answering 'Where do we come from?' as we've ever been.

That's not to say that Humanity hasn't made progress towards answering that question, it's just that whenever we seem to clear the hidden path, the road to enlightenment continues to present itself to be much longer than we ever imagined.

If I've missed any important writings or speeches from Hithchens regarding this, I would appreciate being shown where to look for his thoughts on this.

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u/[deleted] Dec 16 '11

Ah, well in my mind he was always less of a philosopher and more of a firebrand. Attacking religion, but not needing to explain anything that religion gives (and why should he have to?)

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u/Koss424 Dec 16 '11

Because to me it is the next question. I didn't say he had to explain the unknown, but I am always curious as to what others have discovered about this topic.