Sam Harris's Terrifying Philosophy

In this episode Trent breaks down the terrifying consequences of atheist Sam Harris’s approach to morality that is allegedly superior to religious approaches.

00:00 Intro
01:13 The Moral Landscape
02:42 Lack of Philosophical Grounding
07:04 Determinism
10:40 Punishment
15:35 Acceptable Dishonesty
17:35 Acceptable Killings
19:20 Faulty Underlying Principle
23:28 Conclusion

[Sousabird]

I can never hear the phrase "For the Greater Good" without thinking of Hot Fuzz.

[phillipcummings]

I don't even understand why Sam Harris is popular considering his recent interviews. He's cringe.

[lochnessmonster]

Sam Harris said it's okay to use illegal methods and terrorism to stop conservatives from holding political power. That's all I needed to know about him.

[sonnyjim]

Malcolm Muggeridge recounts a conversation with a Soviet police officer about arresting innocent people. The police officer describes how that is a good thing because the people will worry; if an innocent man can get arrested, anyone can get arrested. It keeps everyone on their best behaviour.

[gdapl]

Listening to Harris is what brought me back to church partially.

[zgobermn]

Never been impressed with Harris. He's more antitheist than genuinely rational. He's dogmatic of the atheistic variant. He does not even try understand the view opposite him. He just assumes his opponent is just wrong, why? because his opponent disagrees with him. Period.

[sliglusamelius]

If we don’t have free will, then why does Harris try to change our minds about our beliefs?

[Iustusxi]

It’s completely insane how you don’t have 100k+ subscribers..you have been doing this for so long and your content is simply amazing.

[tonyl]

The ends justifies the means for Harris, clearly, whatever personal "end" Harris happens to value. What a dystopian world according to Harris!

[sigiligus]

The idea of drawing a conclusion on how we ought to behave based on a deterministic universe is an oxymoron. It makes no sense to say "we shouldn't punish criminals because they had no choice." Why do we suddenly have a choice about how to react to people who didn't have a choice?

[joaovitorreginattodasilva]

If Sam Harris's wife cheats on him with a dude that has a bigger dick than his, he would be understandably angry. But that anger is unreasonable and unjustifiable because now there would be two happier and better fulfilled people in the world, only at the cost of one man's bruised ego. The general "wellness" of the world went up, therefore the wife's actions were morally good. And I understand that his wife could say: "No, I love my husband, I don't want to have sex with a guy who has a bigger dick or who is better in bed, I want his dick and I don't mind being unfulfilled If it makes him happy" but she's not offering an alternate sexual, happiness based, worldview that we have to take seriously, she just doesn't get invited back to the conference about sexuality. ;)

[jyllianrainbow]

His "belief system, " if you can even call it that, is circular. His reasoning for why things are morally wrong is literally "humans think thing is bad, therefore thing is bad, except those humans who don't think thing is bad, ignore them." There is no logic to it at all. It's just his personal opinions disguised with word salad and ridiculous metaphors.

[chrismaloney]

The lack of self awareness on Sam’s part is truly concerning. He justifies killing of people due to their beliefs being potential causes of violence without realizing that the very thing he just stated is a potential cause of violence. By his own judgment he should off himself.

[newglof]

I always like to ask atheists that are defending something horrible "are these the superior atheist ethics I hear so much about?"

[lolersauresrex]

I can’t believe I ever saw this guy as formidable

[DavGre]

One thing I know for sure: if any country were ever to become full blown socialist and planned society, the last person that should lead that country is Sam Harris or anyone who thinks that free will doesn’t exist and that everyone’s an NPC that only requires the right inputs to get the desired outputs of behavior.

[mattm]

I'm not catholic(am protestant) but am really enjoying your videos

[Tzimiskes]

Well Sam really doesn't know the violent history behind his atheism.

“of more than fifty thousand Orthodox churches on the territory of the RSFSR in 1917, fewer than a thousand were left in 1939.” —Victoria Smolkin, A Sacred Space is Never Empty: A History of Soviet Atheism, Princeton, 2018, (p. 49)

[brianfarley]

Sam Harris is very confused. Sam having a public platform and held up as someone credible for being ethical is beyond the pale. Now if I had Harris’s moral outlook I could lock him up, destroy his career and place him in prison because it would be for the overall well-being of society. It does go both ways

[shelion]

Let's just pray for Harris. I can't respect his horrible positions but I can wish for his conversion...