EcK
The Memes Justify the End
- Joined
- Nov 21, 2008
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I love youAgain, that's a yes or no question.
I love youAgain, that's a yes or no question.
I just want the answer, forget the 'proof' for now.
Do you, or do not accept this:
"Flaws in theory A do not necessarily *prove* theory B." Just yes or no!
You keep posting these flaws, or suspected flaws, over and over and over, and then you keep claiming you're not offering them as 'proof'. What are you offering them as? Why are you posting them?
A few times you posted something along the lines of "x can't possibly exist without an intelligent designer - therefore the existence of x = god/intelligent designer exists". Is this your position or not? Again, that's a yes or no question.
I inceasingly have no idea what you're actually trying to get across here.
Here I am saying it:
Flaws in theory A do not necessarily *prove* theory B. Did I not say that already?
I love you
Well it's obviously interesting enough for me to keep reading and participating.
I think you did, but I was confused because you keep offering examples of flaws in Theory A (and I'm not going to get into whether or not those flaws are valid - not personally qualified, really) and was wondering why, if you accept that these flaws don't prove Theory B, you keep offering them.
Are there 2 (or 3) different conversations going on here? It seems like one conversation is in regards to what was posted above, by me and others (theory A having flaws doesn't prove theory B) - and it looks like we apparently all agree on that, no?
The other conversation seems to be about god, and whether or not god exists. Given that 1)you and other theists appear not to need logic in order to prove or validate your faith (and I'm not saying you should) and 2)that many of the atheists view the lack of a logical reason to believe in god as reason not to believe in god, it kind of seems like there's nowhere else to go from here. Some need logic to believe and therefore don't. Some don't need it and, sometimes, do then believe.
The 3rd conversation seems to be about Darwinism and it's bullet proof-ness as a theory. I don't see what this has to do with god but if someone wants to debate Darwinism then I've got no problems with that.
What I am getting at in my long-winded way is that you appear to have accepted that there is no logical reason to believe in god. Is that correct? And don't roll out the sandcastles again because you've already conceded that they prove nothing!![]()
Some need logic to believe and therefore don't.
So, to go back to your statement above. As I ponder God, I use logic to form conjectures, but I am at a loss for proof. Though I also agree with you that many people don't need logic to believe in God, and I do think truth may be found without logic, but I am convinced it will still be logical--perhaps logical based on higher truths than mankind has discovered.
The reason I spent so much time on darwinism was because I think many people conclude that darwinism has answered questions that it hasn't. And from that faulty premise, they logically conclude that there is no God.
Have you never had experiences that defy western rational explanation? A couple of those will mix things up for you a bit.
You mean like a fast car being created by an even fastest car ?For instance, I believe it is logical to conclude that since I think, love, hate, remember, enjoy, desire friendships, make decisions that benefit others to my own expense, etc; that I was created by one with a greater capacity to do these same things.
1# I would distinguish between logic and proof. Something can be logical but unproven, and I guess something can be logical but untrue (if, for instance, an underlying premise is false). I believe my perspectives on God are logical yet conjectural.
2# For instance, I believe it is logical to conclude that since I think, love, hate, remember, enjoy, desire friendships, make decisions that benefit others to my own expense, etc; that I was created by one with a greater capacity to do these same things. 3# But I don't see how I could set up a way to test this hypothesis and therefore prove it. I also don't see how one could set up a test to disprove this hypothesis.
4# So, to go back to your statement above. As I ponder God, I use logic to form conjectures, but I am at a loss for proof. Though I also agree with you that many people don't need logic to believe in God, and I do think truth may be found without logic, but I am convinced it will still be logical--perhaps logical based on higher truths than mankind has discovered.
5# The reason I spent so much time on darwinism was because I think many people conclude that darwinism has answered questions that it hasn't. And from that faulty premise, they logically conclude that there is no God.
1# If something can not be proved, then it is not logical.
2# What you described is not logical. There is no connection presented between the Effect and the Cause. What you wrote here is basically "There's A, B and C, so D caused it." This is not logic, this is a leap of logic.
3# Of course you can't. You don't even have a stable hypothesis. That is also why you can't disprove it, because there is simply nothing to disprove.
4# This is not a logical conjecture. This, is an assumption. An assumption is a belief based in the absence of proof. Logic itself cannot exist without proof, it can interact with proof in various forms and ways, but it inherently cannot exist without it.
5# I forsake god before I even knew what evolution was. As a matter of fact I never believed in a need for god.
And as to the article you pointed, I'd have to say that It's a shitty one.
All it really says is that there are some people who disagree about the importance of natural selection. The article only answer to the question "What?". There are no answers presented as to "Why?" or "How?". It's a failure of an article, in itself it's useless.
1#Then if you believe that matter has always existed you believe something illogical, because that "assumption (or conjecture)*" cannot be proven.
2# It is certainly not a rigorous proof, but it is not a fallacy either.
Stable or unstable is your subjective evaluation.
3# *Look up the definition of conjecture. You're playing a semantics game.
4# That's fine, but according to your comment #1 that is an illogical conclusion. (I disagree with your comment #1 btw, therefore I don't brand your misguided conjecture as illogical).
5# Exactly. Here are a bunch of guys considered by the article writer as experts in the field of biology. They are rejecting at least parts of darwinism and struggling to find some replacement or new version of it. It makes my point perfectly, and you nicely summarized it. i.e. "your guys" are just as confounded as "my guys" in explaining life.
For instance, I believe it is logical to conclude that since I think, love, hate, remember, enjoy, desire friendships, make decisions that benefit others to my own expense, etc; that I was created by one with a greater capacity to do these same things.
- Life came into existence.
- The exact manner in which life arose from chemicals is presently unknown, but evidence is mounting in favor of a variety of rational theories.
- There is presently no evidence in favor of the "God did it" theory. (And yes, it is only a theory.)
- I will therefore withhold ultimate judgment while building my world view on the basis of theories for which there is some degree of evidence, as these theories are, presently, the best that we have.
But what often happens in this issue is that the evolution side takes the lack of evidence for God as making it a safe bet to conclude that he is just a "delusion" as people like Dawkins call it. They then criticize the so-called "God of the gaps" tactic and include the issue of origins as one of these "gaps" like others that were once explained as supernatural, but then shown to be natural. So they overgeneralize, that because these other gaps were "filled", then ALL gaps, including original of life and the universe will be also, so God can now safely be dismissed as false. That's no longer going on evidence; it's jumping to a conclusion based on speculation of future discoveries; which is itself unprovable. You might not do this, but many others you can read today, do.The only thing you've done since joining this discussion is reiterate over and over the same argument from incredulity. Your argument, as clearly demonstrated by the above comments boils down to:
- I've thought a lot about God!
- I've also thought a tad about alternative theories.
- These alternative theories were unable to convince me that God does not exist.
- Therefore, God exists.
It's called burden of proof. You seem convinced that people who ascribe to the theory of evolution operate under the following logic:
- The theory of evolution explains a few things!
- Therefore, evolution is absolutely the answer and God does not exist.
This is erroneous.
First of all, evolutionary theory does not explain or attempt to explain how life came into being. It explains how, once life has come into being, adaptations to the environment and competition from other living things leads to the evolution of a variety of species variously suited to a variety of ecological niches.
All of your attacks on evolutionary theory are irrelevant to the question of how life came into being.
Secondly, my logic, and the logic of people similar to me is such:
- Life came into existence.
- The exact manner in which life arose from chemicals is presently unknown, but evidence is mounting in favor of a variety of rational theories.
- There is presently no evidence in favor of the "God did it" theory. (And yes, it is only a theory.)
- I will therefore withhold ultimate judgment while building my world view on the basis of theories for which there is some degree of evidence, as these theories are, presently, the best that we have.
It baffles me the way believers have such difficulty grasping the notion of building one's beliefs up from the ground on the basis of evidence rather than entering into the fray with some set idea that will be ascribed to until anything can prove it wrong. (Which, as the classic "mermaid / dragon / invisible pink unicorn" comparisons demonstrate, is impossible.)
1# I don't believe that.
But one can prove things in various ways. Mathematics being one of them and most theories concerning our universe have quite a decent mathematical proof behind them. A scientific theory based on nothing does not exist.
2# Tell me how is that claim you've just written not a leap of logic? It was exactly like that article. You answered to the question "What?" and that is all, what you need to next for it to be complete is to answer to the questions "How? and "Why?". As a hypothesis, it is full of fallacies.
3# This is why I disagree. An assumption or a conjecture cannot be logical. Because there is no proof.
4# Actually, it is completely logical. The natural state is skepticism. To add something to an equation, you need proof for it to be there.
5# I don't see any problem whatsoever with what has been said in the article. What was said is that the theory of evolution needs a little revision. That is all. There were no mention of the theory being fundamentally flawed or anything like that, all that was said is that the amount of importance on certain aspects of it need to be changed. This is nothing new, this shit happens every week in the scientific arena. Hell the theory of evolution itself has gone through a lot of changes already in the past 100 years, this is nothing new or shocking.
P.S.
In the scientific arena, no one gives a shit who you are. If there is no proof presented with a theory or a hypothesis behind it. You can go fuck yourself. Your degree says only minimal things about your credibility.
The fact that someone has a Hab. Doctorate in something or something equal to that does not mean shit. They can be as wrong as anyone else. Hell, Einstein himself was fundamentally wrong in a lot of his views, even thought he himself is written in the history books as one of the greatest scientist to exist.
But what often happens in this issue is that the evolution side takes the lack of evidence for God as making it a safe bet to conclude that he is just a "delusion" as people like Dawkins call it. They then criticize the so-called "God of the gaps" tactic and include the issue of origins as one of these "gaps" like others that were once explained as supernatural, but then shown to be natural. So they overgeneralize, that because these other gaps were "filled", then ALL gaps, including original of life and the universe will be also, so God can now safely be dismissed as false. That's no longer going on evidence; it's jumping to a conclusion based on speculation of future discoveries; which is itself unprovable. You might not do this, but many others you can read today, do.
In general, NTs belief in things that they can conceptually reason out in their head..with logic. NFs are more prone to 'just understand' things, even if they are very far-fetched out of reason. I still think that some NTs believe, or can believe in God. Hell..no one knows if there is a god or not. Some people 'just know', and others need proof until they can believe of his existence.
#1 - my point is that whatever your cosmological view is, there is an underlying assumption that cannot be proven. Therefore, by your definition, your underlying position is illogical. Go ahead and go out on a limb and articulate your basic cosmological view and I'll respond directly to it.
#2 - it is inductive reasoning and contains leaps. but that is different than an illogical statement or a fallacy. You seem to be confusing inductive reasoning (as opposed to deductive reasoning) with fallacy. It is a hypothesis that is unproven.
Given A as an established truth, there may be a truth outlined as A>B>C>D>E>F. If A is true and I am able to identify B,C,D and E, then I can deduce F. But I may be able to stumble upon F through inductive reasoning even if I only discover C. i.e. I see A and C and conjecture that F is true. Now it may also be that I inductively conclude G. In that case one could show G to be a fallacy by deducing A,B,C,D,E and F.
All of these fall apart if A is false, both the deductive conclusion and the inductive conclusion.
#3 - see #2. btw, you can verify definitions on dictionary.com or wikipedia. it would help if you'd take the time to understand the terms you are using before you use them. "conjecture" and "assumption" are interchangeable terms the way you are using them.
#4 - I agree that, as stated, it may be logical, but it may not be true. But if I apply your misconception of logicality/illogicality this would have the same level of fallacy as my statement was because like my statement it contains logical leaps.
"I forsake god before I even knew what evolution was. As a matter of fact I never believed in a need for god."
This may be true, but it may also be true that God exists, and further, that you need God. You made the logical leap that God does not exist, and that you do not need him. You've been cagey with what you do believe, but presumably, in some way or form, you believe that the world as we know it came about without God, or has always been this way. That belief is a logical leap, and yet still may or may not be true.
#5 - your take on the article is severely clouded by your own bias or your lack of understanding. These statements about the shortcomings of darwinism are huge and significantly erode some longstanding orthodoxies.
6# Aww, now you're just trying to flatter me.
And based on your brilliant discourse so far, I am sure you are just the guy to straighten out ol' Einstein aren't cha.
Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy said:An inductive logic is a system of reasoning that extends deductive logic to less-than-certain inferences. In a valid deductive argument the premises logically entail the conclusion, where such entailment means that the truth of the premises provides a guarantee of the truth of the conclusion. Similarly, in a good inductive argument the premises should provide some degree of support for the conclusion, where such support means that the truth of the premises indicates with some degree of strength that the conclusion is true.
This demonstrates the "exists until proven otherwise" thinking that is inherently erroneous. Again, Invisible Pink Unicorns.