“You can prove anything….
if only your outlook is sufficiently limited.”
Said in the mystery “Whose Body” by the detective as he laments another’s shortsightedness. (Incidently, the author was a great classics scholar—-and had taken logic & other courses using reasoning.)
How do we prove our position has merit?
Can we use history?
Can we use reasoning—logic? (Anyone out there remember all the rules & syllogisms of logic? I don’t but I wish I did. Seems to be a dying art.)
Can we refer to authorities? Experts? (I.e. an expert on Scooby Doo™ is my 5 year old. Yet when he thinks he knows how the car works, I do not listen. Not expert there!)
What about that most holy phrase "A study shows?? Is used to validate sweeping sociological changes in human relations as well as to prove what buyers want. Makes the news if the opject of “a study shows” is interesting enough.
(Heard a study showed chocolate has some heart benefits.)
" Does anyone ever do what one prof I know does? Look at the methodology of the study. Is it well-conducted? Or is it flawed?
(The women who died from using certain menopause drugs possibly are victims of some bad research—-some flawwed studies….some of the drugs kill certain women more than they cure…)
Can we refer to the Bibleas an authority on ethics, on who God is? Or not? Is the Bhagavad Gita or Koran equally valid??
But if there are “no moral absolutes, no truth” then what tools do we use (at least in proving or disproving things of cosmic nature)???
How do you know your authority figures (ministers, priests, parents, ….college profs…) told you the truth?
vanlee
Sep 18 2003
11:54 am
“You can prove anything….
if only your outlook is sufficiently limited.”
Said in the mystery “Whose Body” by the detective as he laments another’s shortsightedness. (Incidently, the author was a great classics scholar—-and had taken logic & other courses using reasoning.)
How do we prove our position has merit?
Can we use history?
Can we use reasoning—logic? (Anyone out there remember all the rules & syllogisms of logic? I don’t but I wish I did. Seems to be a dying art.)
Can we refer to authorities? Experts? (I.e. an expert on Scooby Doo™ is my 5 year old. Yet when he thinks he knows how the car works, I do not listen. Not expert there!)
What about that most holy phrase "A study shows?? Is used to validate sweeping sociological changes in human relations as well as to prove what buyers want. Makes the news if the opject of “a study shows” is interesting enough.
(Heard a study showed chocolate has some heart benefits.)
" Does anyone ever do what one prof I know does? Look at the methodology of the study. Is it well-conducted? Or is it flawed?
(The women who died from using certain menopause drugs possibly are victims of some bad research—-some flawwed studies….some of the drugs kill certain women more than they cure…)Can we refer to the Bibleas an authority on ethics, on who God is? Or not? Is the Bhagavad Gita or Koran equally valid??
But if there are “no moral absolutes, no truth” then what tools do we use (at least in proving or disproving things of cosmic nature)???
How do you know your authority figures (ministers, priests, parents, ….college profs…) told you the truth?