You May Be Communicating With An Irrational Person If ---

If you are communicating with someone and they use any of the following words or phrases, you may be communicating with an irrational person:

    "life force"/"energy field" - distinct from the physical forces explainable by the laws of physics and chemistry.  These cannot be measured by scientific methods, thus, do not warrant belief.



    "Quantum Mechanics" - This term is erroneously used to support the above unscientific concept of "energy field"/"life force". There may be such fields or forces but, until the scientific method supports them having an effect on us, there is no reason to believe. There is a legitimate science of Quantum Mechanics and it is involved with exciting research in the area of atomic and sub-atomic particles and energy.

     "The Mind/Consciousness of the Universe" - The only known entities that have conscious minds are higher order animals, including humans, on this small planet.  A general "Mind" or "Consciousness" within the Universe in general has never been detected, thus, is not worthy of belief.  This phrase usually is presented by the same people who talk about quantum mechanics and energy fields in unscientific ways.

     "Allopathic Medicine" -  This is a term from osteopathic medicine to indicate mainstream medicine as different from osteopathic medicine.  While osteopaths have essentially the same training as mainstream physicians, they also have the additional skills of manual manipulation of the body. As medicine evolved, alternative medicine practitioners adopted this osteopathic term for mainstream medicine in order to attempt to discredit it.  The term is essentially never used by science-based medicine practitioners today.

     "Detoxify" - The normal body quite nicely detoxifies itself.  Virtually all products pedaled by alternative medicine practitioners claiming to cleanse and detoxify the body are worthless and unnecessary.

    "Scientism" - This is a scientific worldview that encompasses natural explanations for all phenomena, eschews supernatural and paranormal speculations, and embraces empiricism and reason as the twin pillars of a philosophy of life appropriate for an Age of Science (Shermer 2002).  This is an accurate definition of the philosophy of someone who accepts that all that is knowable comes through science.  However, it is virtually always used by those who challenge science and who believe there are other ways of knowing.

     "Reductionism" - This legitimately means either (a) an approach to understanding the nature of complex things by reducing them to the interactions of their parts, or to simpler or more fundamental things or (b) a philosophical position that a complex system is nothing but the sum of its parts, and that an account of it can be reduced to accounts of individual constituents  (Wikipedia).  However, it often is used pejoratively against science.

     "Darwinism" - A theory of biological evolution developed by Charles Darwin and others, stating that all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual's ability to compete, survive, and reproduce. (The Free Dictiionary).  Again, this is an accurate definition of evolution in the eyes of Darwin.  Since Darwin, the Theory of Evolution has been refined and developed through further scientific discoveries.  Thus, evolutionary theory today is not exactly the same as Darwin proposed.  As above, "Darwinism" is a term virtually always used by those who challenge the Theory of Evolution.

     "Atheism is a religion" -  A simple analogy addresses this nicely:  Atheism is to religion as bald is to hair color.  If you define religion as ritual and dogma, atheism is not a religion as it has none.  If you define it as a system, atheism is not a religion since there is no system.  If you define it as a belief, then atheism IS a religion.  Atheism is simply believing there is no god.  Period.The term atheism does not include how the person arrived at that conclusion.  Some atheists are so due to unscientific reasons.  Some atheists are so because evidence does not support the conclusion that there is a god.  Theists using this argument are exposing themselves as either uneducated or irrational.