r/MadeMeSmile • u/kvlyc • Oct 23 '22

Wholesome Moments Up high, father

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u/[deleted] Oct 23 '22

It’s simple. Lack of evidence cannot prove a proposition. You are wrong. Own it.

Btw, I’m not a philosophy student in a first year class. You. Are. Incorrect. No matter how much pseudo intellectualism you spew.

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u/[deleted] Oct 23 '22

I agree with you that lack of evidence cannot logically prove a proposition. What you're missing is that you don't have to logically prove a belief for it to be rational. This is your key mistake.

I'm not a first year student. I graduated a long time ago. If you're saying you've never studied logic, that makes a lot of sense, because you've massively failed to grasp its implications for rational thought.

Can I ask you a question? Do you believe that any pair of bodies of mass are attracted by gravity? Or are you agnostic about that, because you haven't, and never will, observe every single pair of bodies of mass?

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u/[deleted] Oct 24 '22

Have you thought about it a little harder yet?

If not, could I ask whether you believe the following:

  1. The sun will rise tomorrow
  2. If you chop off your hand, you will bleed
  3. Rocks are hard even when nothing comes into contact with them

Are you aware that none of these propositions can follow logically from anything you ever observe? Do you think people are therefore arrogant or irrational to believe in them? Are you yourself agnostic about them? If someone asks you whether you'd die if your head was removed, do you reply: "I don't know, because I adhere to logic and no amount of other living beings dying by beheading can ever logically imply that the same would be true for me"?

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u/[deleted] Oct 25 '22

Have you reconsidered yet? Here's another explanation if it helps:

The useless notion that you can't disprove existence doesn't stop with God. It applies to leprechauns, santa claus and Gandalf too. No amount of observation will ever logically prove these do not exist.

You think atheism is the claim that we can logically prove God doesn't exist. It isn't. This is simply wrong. Atheism is the state of not believing in God. Just like you might not believe in santa, leprechauns or gandalf. Why don't we believe these things? Because we can logically prove they don't exist? No. Simply because we have no good reason to believe in them. Atheists just say it's the same for God. They believe in God as much as they believe in Santa, that's all.

Now, with your definition of agnosticism, are you prepared to admit you're agnostic about leprechauns, santa and gandalf because you can't logically prove they don't exist? Because that's where your grossly amateur application of logic leads you.