PZ Myers Weighs in on the Search for a Less Religious Version of “Spiritual”

PZ Myers

A couple of weeks ago I suggested we stop using the word ‘spiritual’ when describing feelings of awe, wonder, connectedness etc. and use ‘sublime‘ instead. The main thrusts behind my argument were that:

  1. Spiritual is defined and understood by most people to have religious connotations.
  2. Attempting to re-cast ‘spiritual’ in a less religious light is, in my mind, a pointless, frustrating waste of time.
  3. ‘Numinous’ – a word that tends to be favoured by Christopher Hitchens and Richard Dawkins has the same difficulties (to a lesser extent, but still the same religious connotations exist.)
  4. In my mind, sublime perfectly fits the bill (read my post for my rationale).

PZ Myers is wondering if we should use a new word – ‘Scientility’:

Describes the sensation that a scientist or amateur of science experiences when he/she observes an amazing phenomenon, for which his/her qualifications or knowledge makes them experience it a greater degree of appreciaton and joy than people without that knowledge.

I’m sticking to my guns – I still much prefer using sublime. First, because I think it’s an awesome word that already has the meaning we want to convey. Second, because I do not think the emphasis should be placed on science-based experience/knowledge, but rather that a more broad-based secular word (like sublime!) is what is needed. And third, because I’m just not very fond of the proposed word.

What do you think?

Edit: I spent some time perusing the comments on PZ’s site and it looks like I am not alone with my preference for ‘sublime’. Might they have read my post from last week? ;)

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May 11, 2010 · Filed Under Atheism

Comments

10 Responses to “PZ Myers Weighs in on the Search for a Less Religious Version of “Spiritual””

  1. Nadina Cardillo on May 11th, 2010 at 1:26 pm

    I prefer Meyers’ word, because one of the highlights of being an atheist is precisely that, the ability to explain natural phenomena further than “because God made it that way”.

    Although ‘sublime’ rocks because if we all atheists used it, we would say: “We are sublime atheists”, and then, for short, just “We are sublime” ;)

  2. NFQ on May 11th, 2010 at 1:32 pm

    I think I like sublime better, because it’s possible to have that feeling and have it not really be related to science. I mean, I guess you could tie every feeling back to science in some way, sensory experiences and chemical reactions and all that. But “scientility” sounds too directly linked to something you’d do at a lab bench. It’s not a good word for how you feel when listening to a symphony, or something more along those lines.

  3. Ian Andreas Miller on May 11th, 2010 at 2:37 pm

    Sublime is a good one!

    Scientility, however, sounds too much like infantile, Scientology, and senility to me.

    NFQ
    May 11th, 2010 at 11:21 pm

    Wow, yes — it does sound exactly like “senility” to me but I couldn’t put my finger on it before.

  4. Luke on May 12th, 2010 at 12:47 am

    Hi again.

    I see ‘Misquoting Jesus’ in your ‘great reads’ list. I think you may find my critical review of the book interesting:
    http://commonsenseatheism.com/?p=27

    Cheers,

    Luke

  5. Emory on May 12th, 2010 at 2:30 pm

    I like sublime the best. Scientility may have its uses such as, “When I ponder the vastness of the universe, the scientility of it just leaves me in awe.” Whereas upon looking at a beautiful sunset one might say, “How sublime!” It’s much more simple and rolls off the tongue quite nicely (or dare I say: sublimely).

  6. Badger on May 13th, 2010 at 2:10 pm

    Why just one word?

    There are a large number of words that describe various feelings of awe. Thesaurus.com is your friend!

    40 Year Old Atheist
    May 14th, 2010 at 11:50 am

    Hey Badger,

    I understand your point. However, there seems to be a desire among many people to grab onto one word that explains multiple, related and even overlapping experiences – hence, the often used strategy of using ‘spiritual’. I agree that many times we can be specific and use “awe” or “connectedness” etc, but I also see value in having one word that wraps all those words up into one philosophical concept. And, for my money, I like Kant’s explanation of ‘sublime”. :)

    Badger
    May 15th, 2010 at 11:12 am

    Heh, yes, people have a penchant for pigeonholing, don’t they? If people are searching for only one word, sublime is a good one. I like to use the right tool for the job, and I try to apply that to language as well.

  7. Leo Cisneiros on June 26th, 2010 at 9:54 am

    Sublime is the best choice. We’re talking here about the feeling that drives the investigation and which is also present in the beginnings of religion. The most beautiful praise of this feeling I know is right there at the dawn of philosophy and science: “(…) For it is owing to their wonder that men both now begin and at first began to philosophize; they wondered originally at the obvious difficulties, then advanced little by little and stated difficulties about the greater matters, e.g. about the phenomena of the moon and those of the sun and of the stars, and about the genesis of the universe. And a man who is puzzled and wonders thinks himself ignorant (whence even the lover of myth is in a sense a lover of Wisdom, for the myth is composed of wonders); therefore since they philosophized order to escape from ignorance, evidently they were pursuing science in order to know, and not for any utilitarian end.” (Aristotle; Metaphysics, I, 2)

    [sorry for my english, not native speaker]

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