(August 13, 2009 at 6:15 pm)Tiberius Wrote: That is your opinion. In my opinion I have refuted your arguments, since your argument itself is circular; it requires belief in the Christian worldview for the argument to work, and the argument attempts to prove the God espoused by the Christian worldview.That is the orthodox TAG, which is but one out of three of the arguments I have presented. There is both the other transcendental argument, which is more of an after-the-effect than an analytic argument; and there is the argument from potentiality and actuality. You have refuted neither of them. But then, you haven't refuted the orthodox TAG, either.
The orthodox TAG is not circular, because it does not both begin and end with the premise and the conclusion that one must presuppose Christianity. It's not, premise: the presupposition of Christianity is necessary, and conclusion: the presupposition of Christianity is necessary. It's only after the conclusion that one must presuppose Christianity for the argument to work; but if you don't grant the argument it's validity, that will never be the case, and you will never have to presuppose the truth of Christianity to begin with. If the argument is right, and it's conclusion true that the presupposition of Christianity is necessary, however, then of course the presupposition of Christianity is necessary. That is not circular, because it was not the premise with which the argument began; but the conclusion it reached, which after the conclusion is reaches, necessitates that it is presupposed.
The people who are the most bigoted are the people who have no convictions at all.
-G. K. Chesterton
-G. K. Chesterton