RE: Indoctrination & Mental Gymnastics
January 17, 2015 at 2:49 pm
(This post was last modified: January 17, 2015 at 2:56 pm by Lek.)
(January 17, 2015 at 2:16 am)robvalue Wrote: Lek: Choosing to believe something you read is true, without justification other than "you can't prove it's not true" is the logical fallacy called an argument from ignorance. You can equally well apply it to any fictional book you like. I could say, "Can you prove these characters don't exist and the events didn't happen?" The honest answer will be no, because proving a negative is usually impossible. So by your reasoning, it's just as valid to believe every work of fiction is in fact true, regardless of whether the author admits this.
Yes. But also referencing a bunch of controversial findings, and forming an opinion based on that evidence, is conjecture. You can say that "based on the following evidence, I believe that the gospels are fiction." But if there are many other experts in the field that disagree and your evidence is not conclusive, then I object to you presenting your opinion as if it is fact. I always say "I believe in God or I believe in Jesus." I believe it's true, but I can't presume it's true for arguments sake, because there is also evidence used to refute it.
