"If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china
teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be
able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the
teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful
telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion
cannot be disproved, it is an intolerable presumption on the part of
human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking
nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in
ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled
into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its
existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter
to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened...

On Sat, 1 Mar 2008 01:02:42 -0800 (PST), turtoni
fastmail.net> wrote:

"turtoni" wrote:

On Sat, 01 Mar 2008 11:13:38 +0000, andy-k wrote:

Yes, agree.

A consideration might be in the power of the icon. A tangible something
or other that represents an idea. Like a national flag, or a religious
statue. Where a flag is seen as a material symbol of ideals, a religious
icon confirms spiritual faith through material certainty so making the
belief system a certainty. Nice trick!

To open up this can of worms a little wider, it isn't pure coincidence
that inside of many religions, the power/church structure centers around
who exactly holds and 'keeps' the icon. In the case of the teapot it
might be that a certain group might claim to either see this teapot via
visions or maybe with some sacred telescope.

On Mar 1, 6:13 am, "andy-k" wrote:

"Ed" wrote:

I can't see any, but I can see there'd be more logical reason to postulate,
say, quarks than there is to postulate the Celestial Teapot. The pertinent
question I'm speaking of is "what publicly observed phenomena is this
postulate intended to account for?"

On Sat, 01 Mar 2008 16:06:18 GMT, "andy-k" wrote:

On Mar 1, 11:06 am, "andy-k" wrote:

"Art" zilch.com> wrote in message
news:qdcis39lic9175rm40509ettlqkelv4s7n@4ax.com...

Very true - gods come and go - belief systems come and go - civilizations
rise and die - and the latest is not necessarily always the best.
The truly enlightened age if it ever comes will be so remarkable in nature
that humans will laugh and laugh and how they could possibly have in any way
considered ANYTHING that has ever been heard of on Earth up to now.
THE BORG

"Ed" wrote:

I assume that Russell's drive to postulate the celestial teapot didn't come
from personal revelation, and so isn't 'private' in the religious sense.
Rather I take Russell's first point to be that we can...