Thursday, February 01, 2007
If I want to examine other religious views or even my own I need to have a template to test them with. The three principles I listed in my last post is the template I believe best fits the task. So, I want to first evaluate them from a stand point of logical consistency. One does not need to have a complete understanding of logic to do this. Two of the basic laws of logic are sufficient to the task.
These are the laws of noncontradiction and the excluded middle. Noncontradiction simply says a statement that contradicts itself cannot be true. Another way of saying that is something is either what it is or it is something else. The law of the excluded middle simply builds on that by stating something cannot be itself and something else at the same time. I suppose we need to make note of identity as well. This princple of logic simply means something is what it is. If I tell you I have a motorcycle you know what that is. You do not think I am talking about a truck.
When I examine a belief system I use these laws of logic to determine if it is not true. There are limitations to logic. While I can determine if something is not true, logic will not identify something as true. Star Trek fans the Vulcans had it wrong; you cannot build a culture on logic alone becasue you will not be able to find truth.
Mical used these laws in one of her comments several posts back. Take Hinduism as an examle. This religion is loaded with contradictions, a fact even some Hindu scholars (if I can use that term) acknowledge. An example is their view of God is both one of many personal gods and that God is impersonal and one with the universe. Both views cannot be true. This is why I don't believe in Hinduism or any of it's off shoots.
OK, the fair one is at the hospital with our grand daughter for the night. That means I did not get her proof read of this. If you see a typo feel free to point it out and even make fun of it if you like. Today I am too tried to fight back.
These are the laws of noncontradiction and the excluded middle. Noncontradiction simply says a statement that contradicts itself cannot be true. Another way of saying that is something is either what it is or it is something else. The law of the excluded middle simply builds on that by stating something cannot be itself and something else at the same time. I suppose we need to make note of identity as well. This princple of logic simply means something is what it is. If I tell you I have a motorcycle you know what that is. You do not think I am talking about a truck.
When I examine a belief system I use these laws of logic to determine if it is not true. There are limitations to logic. While I can determine if something is not true, logic will not identify something as true. Star Trek fans the Vulcans had it wrong; you cannot build a culture on logic alone becasue you will not be able to find truth.
Mical used these laws in one of her comments several posts back. Take Hinduism as an examle. This religion is loaded with contradictions, a fact even some Hindu scholars (if I can use that term) acknowledge. An example is their view of God is both one of many personal gods and that God is impersonal and one with the universe. Both views cannot be true. This is why I don't believe in Hinduism or any of it's off shoots.
OK, the fair one is at the hospital with our grand daughter for the night. That means I did not get her proof read of this. If you see a typo feel free to point it out and even make fun of it if you like. Today I am too tried to fight back.
