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Originally posted by Rhudladion:
<STRONG>I have never had a harder time getting a simple point across. You say that you do not agree with my argument, and I can only assume that you mean you think it is illogical.</STRONG>
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Yepp, you got it.
Quote:
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<STRONG> Yet, you did not show me where it falters. The argument you gave about swine and the argument I gave about homosexuality would be seen as perfectly valid inductive arguments in any logic book since the time of the classic philosophers.</STRONG>
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Do you really intend to discuss logic with me??? As you want... So, let's discuss logics! *satanicsmile*
Sorry for the others, this might be a bit boring for you. I will try to disproove his pseudo-syllogism as fast as possible. This will not be difficult, als he did a very obvious beginners' error...
Well, Rhudladion, your argumentation was as follows:
1) Tolkien was a Christian.
2) Christian's believe the Bible and use it as a guide unto everything in life.
3) The Bible does not approve of homosexuality.
4) Tolkien would not approve of homosexuality. (from 1,2,& 3)
Just an advice: Before trying to argue with formal logic in public, you should learn to use it... Your principal error was to omit the all quantors and/or existence quantors in 2). It can have several meanings:
2a) Some christians believe every sentence in the bible...
2b) Every christian believes some sentences in the bible...
2c) Every christian believes every sentence in the bible...
- You cannot conclude 4) from 1), 2a) and 3): What is valid for some christians is not necessarily valid for Tolkien.
- You cannot conclude 4) from 1), 2b) and 3): You do not know whether the sentences about homosexuality among the sentences Tolkien believes in.
- You can conclude 4) from 1), 2c, 3) - but 2c is obviously wrong. To proove this, it suffices to give one counter-example: I, considering myself as a Christian, do not agree with Lev 25,44 which allows slavery.
(NB: Perhaps you are tempted to modify the definition of "Christian" and restrict this term to those Christians who agree with every sentence in the bible (including those about slavery, homosexuality, eating swine, and hares beeing ruminants [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] ). But if you do so, you will have a problem with 1): Who can tell if Tolkien still matches with your restricted definition?)
Thus your argument is either illogical, or it is based on obviously wrong assumptions(ex falso quodlibet [img]smilies/wink.gif[/img] ).
Rhudladion, you can believe what you want - but I give you a piece of advice: Never try to teach a guy logic who has a PhD in mathematics... [img]smilies/rolleyes.gif[/img]
Well, I propose to finish the public discussion on logic here and to come back to the subject.
Ghâshgûl
[ January 18, 2002: Message edited by: Ghâshgûl ]