RE: The Case for Atheism
May 8, 2013 at 3:43 pm
(This post was last modified: May 8, 2013 at 3:48 pm by Simon Moon.)
(May 8, 2013 at 3:20 pm)Love Wrote: Inductive argument, deductive argument, subjective argument, teleological argument, transcendental argument, argument from reason, argument from love among others; none of these methods of argument will work.
You are correct, methods that involve fallacious arguments (like the ones you mentioned above) won't work.
Quote:The approach that I find the most helpful is to discuss epistemology and highlight the fact that the scientific method (predominantly empiricism) and rationalism (pure reason = a priori knowledge) have limits in a variety of areas.
Just a coincidence that the area that they 'have limits' just so happen to be the area where your beliefs lie.
Quote:For example, I know that a transcendent panentheistic entity (let's call it God for convenience) exists, but I am aware that it is impossible to communicate this knowledge by using rational language.
How do you know this? What heuristic are using to obtain this knowledge?
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.