Meet an atheist ... who believes in God

[struggle4progress]

25. I think if you consider the matter carefully you may admit

that completely different methods of thinking are appropriate in different circumstances

The physicist, for example, does not construct theories of physics in which electrons or planets have a consciousness and are able to choose how to react in experimental situations: it is an instrumentalist theory, according to which particular circumstances produce results that are, in one sense or another, calculable

On the other hand, most people object to being treated as if they were automata having calculable reactions in given circumstances, and most ethical systems will therefore regard it as improper to treat humans as automata. So moral social interactions proceed on an entirely different basis than physics

Many physicists seem to be able to bridge this divide without difficulty, doing one sort of thinking for the development of physics and an entirely different sort of thinking for social purposes. That is not a matter of tolerating cognitive dissonance: it is a matter of realizing that advancing physics and getting along with other people are two rather different enterprises