“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 age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time.” – Bertrand Russell, 1952
Russell’s Teapot
Posted in Images on December 2nd, 2009 by deuce | Report This Post | 
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8 Responses to Russell’s Teapot
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(12 votes, average: 4.67 out of 5)
December 2, 2009 at 2:52 am
Russell FTW. He may be the best contemporary essay writer of philosophical silliness.
December 2, 2009 at 6:17 am
That’s what atheist actually believe.
December 2, 2009 at 9:38 am
Also: 42!
December 2, 2009 at 10:19 am
Have you accepted Space Teapot as your Lord and Saviour?
December 2, 2009 at 10:22 am
I store all my teapots in elliptical orbits.
December 2, 2009 at 1:44 pm
And I take from that:
so what if there’s a teapot floating out there? does it directly effect you?
no?
then why care?
December 2, 2009 at 7:05 pm
Holy shit! A good post that isn’t the same, repetitive, pointless shit I don’t care about! MCS needs more diversity in posting. Stop with anime dicks and planes and spaceships.
December 2, 2009 at 7:07 pm
If ancient books described a china teapot in orbit between Earth and Mars, from a time when neither china, nor teapots existed and there was definitely no understanding of planets and orbits, I’d be more inclined to believe in time travel, or maybe aliens. If, however, ancient texts described how dragons once roamed the earth eating virgins and setting fire to crops, and we cannot find any live dragons or skeletons or other evidence of such a creature ever existing, then I’d probably believe all their other claims are suspect as well.
But then I’m already seeing a psychiatrist, so maybe he’s right…