RE: Attention Theists! Present your best argument for the existence of God!
February 11, 2011 at 6:10 am
(This post was last modified: February 11, 2011 at 6:14 am by Edwardo Piet.)
If you ask someone why they believe or disbelieve something, once you've asked "why?" enough times in a row the genuine answer is ultimately either "I don't know" or they otherwise end up committing the circular reasoning or begging the question fallacy.
I ultimately don't know why I believe or disbelieve anything. Because any reasons I come up with, once questioned enough times, lead to me not knowing the answer.
Even very basic things. For example: I know that I am self-aware because I consider self-awareness to be identical to self-knowledge, but I ultimately don't know why I'm self aware. If I ask why I'm self-aware I can comprehend that it's because I was born that way and I can comprehend that I was born that way because that's how things have turned out, but ultimately I don't know why things have turned out the way they have, so I ultimately don't know the answer to any "why" question.
I know that 2+2=4 but I ultimately don't know why. I know that numbers have been defined in such a way that 2+2 basically means 4 so the logic of mathematics is ultimately tautological. But I don't know why it is. Why is anything tautological? Why, ultimately, is anything the way it is?
I ultimately don't know why I believe or disbelieve anything. Because any reasons I come up with, once questioned enough times, lead to me not knowing the answer.
Even very basic things. For example: I know that I am self-aware because I consider self-awareness to be identical to self-knowledge, but I ultimately don't know why I'm self aware. If I ask why I'm self-aware I can comprehend that it's because I was born that way and I can comprehend that I was born that way because that's how things have turned out, but ultimately I don't know why things have turned out the way they have, so I ultimately don't know the answer to any "why" question.
I know that 2+2=4 but I ultimately don't know why. I know that numbers have been defined in such a way that 2+2 basically means 4 so the logic of mathematics is ultimately tautological. But I don't know why it is. Why is anything tautological? Why, ultimately, is anything the way it is?
