(July 13, 2009 at 12:10 am)Arcanus Wrote:EvF Wrote:So if I believe there is a monster under my bed, is that not delusional because you have no evidence to disprove it, because I can just say it's invisible, inaudible and completely intangible and undetectable by any means whatsoever?
Belief in monsters under your bed is delusional only if contradicting evidence proves it false and you continue to believe it anyway. If the monster has the properties you assert, I would tell you, "Don't worry about this fiendish creature. You said it cannot be seen, nor felt, nor even heard. He is therefore of no consequence to anyone."
Well we disagree here then...!
You see I think that belief in 'a monster under my bed' in that case would be delusional...I don't have to disprove it...or provide strong contradictory evidence...because that's a negative proof fallacy if it's completely undetectable as I say! So it would mean that it's never delusional to believe in anything totally undetectable...no matter how complex and bizarre such a belief is...no matter how unnecessary accessories are postulated (providing they're all also undetectable) - even if there's zero evidence for them...no evidence at all...
So I think its totally reasonably to classify such a belief as a delusion simply because there's no evidence whatsoever for it...and that there should be evidence for this complex strangeness that is postulated.
So for exactly the same reason - I think belief in God (Or the FSM, or any other complexity that lacks any evidence whatsoever) is a delusion. Otherwise you could never call any completely undetectable belief delusional...no matter how crazy it is! simply because you can't prove a negative because it's a logical fallacy!!
So is it totally unreasonable to at least sometimes classify crazy complex beliefs that are delusional...- namely when they're undetectable...because this complexity lacks any evidence whatsoever yet the person in question just 'believes anyway'?!?! You couldn't really be much more sure (without being irrationally gnostic about it) that the FSM doesn't exist right? So wouldn't it be delusional to believe anyway because this complexity called the FSM lacks any evidence whatsoever...to go ahead and believe anyway...isn't that...well...delusional? (For example).
EvF