RE: Atheism, Theism, Science & Philosophy
April 23, 2013 at 8:36 am
(This post was last modified: April 23, 2013 at 8:40 am by The Grand Nudger.)
(April 23, 2013 at 6:52 am)Love Wrote: No, I would not use empiricism to justify my belief in God.How about reason?
Quote:Another example: let's suppose I have purchased a bicycle from a shop. Let's assume that nobody witnessed or has knowledge of me buying or even owning the bicycle. A few years down the line I have lost the receipt of purchase and the company from which I purchased the bicycle dissolved. Suppose in a public setting I lock the bike and lose the key, and there is another person who comes along and makes a convincing reasoned argument and claims that the bike actually belongs to him or her. With absolutely no evidence (documentary, anecdotal or otherwise), how can I possibly prove to somebody that the bike is my property?How can he prove that it's his? You did just say he had no evidence didn't you? That precludes any -convincing reasoned argument- as he will have been incapable of assigning any measure of veracity to the argument. It would just be two randoms claiming the same bike, I wouldn't cut the bolt for either of you. For all I know neither of you own the bike.
Quote:The only real possibilities are: a person is going to believe me, a person is going to disbelieve me, or a person is going to reserve judgement. For a person who disbelieves me, he or she is perfectly within his or her rights because I have provided absolutely no firm evidence that the bike belongs to me. A person might choose to believe that I am telling the truth based on intuition, in which case reason is trumped by intuition in this instance and does, in fact, lead to the truth of the matter.All you've presented is a case where someone -might- get the answer right for the wrong reasons (ignoring that they could also "intuit" that you're a liar and the bike belongs to the other claimant just as easily). I'm thoroughly unimpressed. We're back to not slapping our brother because it makes pixies cry. Reason trumped by intuition in this example? Not even close.
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