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Thursday, September 22, 2011

Vox Day will have a field day

Vox Day will have a field day with the reported study -- MailOnline: Is atheism linked to autism? Controversial study points to relationship between the two

From the article:
The study, from University of Boston, speculates that common autistic spectrum behaviours such as 'a preference for logical beliefs' and a distrust of metaphor and figures of speech, could be responsible [for the higher incidence of 'atheism' amongst "people with high-functioning autism".
...
The paper, 'investigates the proposal that individual differences in belief will reflect cognitive processing styles, with high functioning autism being an extreme style that will predispose towards nonbelief.'
Two points:
1) Not so as you'd notice 'a preference for logical beliefs' amongst 'atheists'.
2) What they're saying, by saying "could be responsible", is that such persons probably do not have reasons for their espousal of atheism, but rather that their atheism is likely caused by something non-rational. That is, that their 'atheism' is more likely the result not of their minds, than of their brains. Or their livers ... it's so hard to tell, sometimes.
2a) What they're saying, by proposing that the conclusions persons reach "reflect [their] cognitive processing styles", is that no one believes what he believes because he has reasoned soundly from true premise to true conclusion.

But, of course, they are also offering conclusions: they are false conclusions and the reasoning behind them, being merely a restatement of reductive materialism, is atrocious, but they are conclusions.


edit:
Here is Vox Day's discussion of the reported study, as reported: TIA: it is science (and it's well worth the read)

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