(January 22, 2012 at 5:33 am)Ryft Wrote: Please provide a modus ponens argument that disproves the existence of God by means of evidence of absence.
If there is no evidence to verify God's existence then God does not exist
There is no evidence to verify God's existence
Therefore God does not exist
(January 22, 2012 at 5:33 am)Ryft Wrote: No, we cannot. Science is not in the verification business. (Consider the problem of confirmation bias.) With regard to the criterion of demarcation, a proposition or hypothesis is a matter of ordinary science to the extent that it is falsifiable in the main and at least in principle. As Kuhn might say, this is the currently accepted paradigm of the scientific community.
Moreover, the existence of some x is a matter of metaphysics, specifically ontology, not a matter of science. And some things exist which are not, and cannot be, a matter of scientific inquiry; for example, the law of noncontradiction, which is normative and a priori knowledge.
Sciences is a posteriori. It verifies contingencies (i.e. existence) as to determine their truth value. A priori knowledge has no truth value past the person who believes them to be either true or false.
I could say that applesauce is mushroom and claim a priori reasoning. That doesn't mean it's true.
To say logic produces truth, or specifically that the law of noncontradiction is true, is simply to state a belief (most likely based on utility).
To make a claim of absolute truth is to assert human arrogance.
Brevity is the soul of wit.
