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Anyone want to debate this formally with me?

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Anyone want to debate this formally with me?
TreeSapNest Offline
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#31
RE: Anyone want to debate this formally with me?
November 4, 2014 at 12:40 pm
(November 4, 2014 at 12:16 pm)JuliaL Wrote: I'd argue that holding such a belief is rational from a consequential, utilitarian viewpoint because:

And I think you'd be quite right. A decision to avoid risk is a decision based in reason. Seemingly rational to me.
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Chas Offline
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#32
RE: Anyone want to debate this formally with me?
November 4, 2014 at 1:28 pm (This post was last modified: November 4, 2014 at 1:28 pm by Chas.)
(November 4, 2014 at 11:59 am)TreeSapNest Wrote:
(November 4, 2014 at 11:43 am)Chas Wrote: Look, have fun moving the goalposts, but you're on your own with that. I stated the premises, you want to change them. Go ahead; when you would like to address what I actually said, I would be interested.

No post moving. I'm just curious where the boundries are with rational and irrational. We know people can lie. I don't know if my neighbor has a basement or not. How skeptical do we need be to qualify as being rational?

Is it rather, believing claims contrary to our understanding (as with the dragon) that are irrational to believe?

Boundaries? No, it is not either/or, it is a spectrum.

In my example, I stated what I did and didn't know. If you don't know for certain that your neighbor has a basement, that is a different fact set.

If I lived in Florida, my response to the neighbor might be, "You have a basement?" since they are really unusual in Florida. Here in New England, it is unusual not to have one.

One should be appropriately skeptical. A claim of a mouse in the basement is very different than a claim of a dragon in the basement.
Skepticism is not a position; it is an approach to claims.
Science is not a subject, but a method.
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Simon Moon Offline
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#33
RE: Anyone want to debate this formally with me?
November 4, 2014 at 2:11 pm
(November 4, 2014 at 8:37 am)Parkers Tan Wrote: I don't think that premise is worthy of debate. The irrationality of faith can be shown with one exchange:

What's your evidence?
I don't have any, but --
Okay.

This was pretty much my thoughts when I read the OP.

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.
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psychoslice Offline
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#34
RE: Anyone want to debate this formally with me?
November 5, 2014 at 2:17 am
Your debate is not even worth debating.
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Nintentacle Offline
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#35
RE: Anyone want to debate this formally with me?
November 5, 2014 at 5:33 am
You're right: It is irrational to say God is impossible because no man has the knowledge of the entire Universe.
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Cyberman Away
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#36
RE: Anyone want to debate this formally with me?
November 5, 2014 at 6:28 am (This post was last modified: November 5, 2014 at 6:29 am by Cyberman.)
You can't say no man has knowledge of the entire Universe unless you have knowledge of the entire Universe.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist.  This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair.  Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second.  That means there's a situation vacant.'
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robvalue Offline
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#37
RE: Anyone want to debate this formally with me?
November 5, 2014 at 6:37 am (This post was last modified: November 5, 2014 at 6:38 am by robvalue.)
I raised my objections and they weren't answered, so I don't know if they weren't formal enough or what. Are you looking to go to a venue to debate?
Feel free to send me a private message.
Please visit my website here! It's got lots of information about atheism/theism and support for new atheists.

Index of useful threads and discussions
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Angrboda Offline
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#38
RE: Anyone want to debate this formally with me?
November 5, 2014 at 3:58 pm
(November 5, 2014 at 6:37 am)robvalue Wrote: I raised my objections and they weren't answered, so I don't know if they weren't formal enough or what. Are you looking to go to a venue to debate?

http://atheistforums.org/forum-23.html
[Image: extraordinarywoo-sig.jpg]
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Atheist Forums › Community › Atheism v
Anyone want to debate this formally with me?

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