Friday, January 29, 2010

The Argument From Ignorance and Cutting Theists Some Slack

Theists often fall victim to the fallacy of the argument from ignorance, particularly when invoking a "god of the gaps" to explain abiogenesis. They not only deny any advances can be made in the future, they willfully ignore perfectly reasonable scientific explanations that already exist, and limit themselves to the smallness of their imaginations. Others, equally ignorant of science, properly admit that although they can't imagine other ways many phenomena could be explained, they are open to evidence in principle.

...and your electron microscope! has a flowchart describing what it means to be open minded. It errs when asking "is their evidence that could convince you otherwise." Even if a person cannot conceive of the type of evidence that would be required to refute his position, that's a deficit in his intelligence, not his honesty.

2 comments:

  1. Ha, I like the article and accompanying flowchart.

    I think one of the most ironic things about kiruv (and probably all religious outreach) professionals is that they tell you to consider all the evidence because it will logically show you how God exists and Judaism (or X religion) is true. Yet they would never let you read a skeptic book or science that counters the religious argument. So much for intellectual honesty, huh?
    For some reason, I feel like those people would fall on the close minded side of the flowchart.

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  2. If you think of it in this perspective, you’ll swiftly come to the conclusion we all have a short time to live: ALL of U.S. will croak at some point in our lifelong demise, thus, our indelible spirit rises-up to meet our Maker - absolutely nuthin we can do bout that: our soul wants to be loved, nourished, enveloped, return-to-her-maker-thing. Jesus doesn't have a sign outside of Heaven saying, 'Those who don't believe? C’est la guerre. C'mon in. Guess I wasn’t as forthright as Marvel Comix'. Be on the pro-LIFE-eration side, don't be on the side which'll swiftly LET/LEAD you down. I’m a small 'peAce-de-resistance' of a Larger Picture: give your soul that final chance. Repent and believe. God bless you with discernment.

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