(September 27, 2018 at 9:17 am)polymath257 Wrote:(September 27, 2018 at 8:36 am)RoadRunner79 Wrote: So then, you switch from arguing against to pleading ignorance?
edit: Are you saying that their are interpretations, that are not contradictory, and incoherent? Wouldn't the principle of charity say that you should argue against those, rather than trying to make the argument irrational?
I am saying that I have yet to see a coherent argument being made that doesn't have basic flaws. Furthermore, by refusing to define the relationship 'greater', the whole position on the religious side boils down to hand waving.
So, yes, your refusal to make the required argument means we are ignorant of what you are specifically claiming. This is *your* job to make your argument, not mine. If you think there is a coherent way to assign 'greater' to all virtues simultaneously, please make that argument. If you then make a claim that there is a 'greatest' in that ordering, then make that argument. Both of these claims seem wildly unlikely, though.
But at this point, all you have done is mumble vague platitudes that are unlikely to be anywhere close to correct.
And yes, until you actually do the work, what we understand about orderings makes your claims dubious, at best. More specifically, it appears that many virtues are mutually at odds, making a consistent resolution of these issues doubtful.
It seems silly to me, to argue in one instance, that you don't know what is meant, and then in another instance, to say that it is incoherent. If you don't understand it, then how can you assess it at all? I don't expect you to do the work except for your own claims... it's just confusing that you are making claims, and subsequently claim you don't know what you are talking about.
There is some disagreement on what is a great making quality or virtue. This disagreement however is objective, and not just making statements concerning ones self. Plantinga describes a maximally great being, or a maximally excellent being in the ontological argument. I think that the following definition of greatness seems to fit "denoting the element of something that is the most important or the most worthy of consideration" I am (just now) thinking, that perhaps it is the phrasing "greater" that is tripping you up. That these "great" make properties can be maximized, as in not lacking in this attribute, or posessing the quality which is contrary in nature.
As to the claim that some of these are mutually exclusive, that's your claim, and I'm guessing that you are not insinuating that I do your work for you.
It is said that an argument is what convinces reasonable men and a proof is what it takes to convince even an unreasonable man. - Alexander Vilenkin
If I am shown my error, I will be the first to throw my books into the fire. - Martin Luther
If I am shown my error, I will be the first to throw my books into the fire. - Martin Luther