RE: How to beat a presupp at their own game
March 17, 2021 at 6:35 pm
(This post was last modified: March 17, 2021 at 6:42 pm by R00tKiT.)
(March 17, 2021 at 4:10 am)Superjock Wrote: If you say the universe is my starting point as an atheist, they'll say what grounds the universe?
One of the primary presupps there is Darth Darkins. Anyone know how to dismantle this type of argument?
I am a theist myself and don't think presuppositionalism is a good argument. To answer this argument, simply replace the christian deity with any arbitrary object: a giant alien is the foundation of knowledge, or could also be some ill-intentioned demon who enjoys deceiving people about reality, but who also happens to be eternal and all-knowing, etc. There is no shortage of scenarios that answer the presuppositionalist's challenge and don't include the christian god. The latter in its trinitarian form is a joke, a basic logical impossibility that famous apologists like W.L. Craig looked really silly when they tried to defend it.
Arguing towards a deity seems a better way to defend theism, in my opinion. I think the teleological argument is sound and, together with some thought experiments about [the impossibility of] infinite regress, does at least lead to a being with some omni- properties, including justness, without which no religion can be proven to be correct. Further knowledge about such a being is impossible without referring to scripture.
Another important point : the presuppositionalist is simply attempting a regressive argument, one kind of three vacuous arguments you can read more about here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%BCnchhausen_trilemma
It's an infinite regress of questioning, the exact same thing a theist is supposed to rule out to prove the abrahamic god. So that anything you say to defend your POV can be questioned, and all the presuppositionalist has to do is continuously ask for the entity or principle governing the assertion you just said, then question the next assertion, ad infinitum.
