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Submitted by THX 1138 on
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When Gary told me he had found Jesus, I thought, Ya-hoo! We're rich! But it turned out to be something different. 

crabgrass

for the record, I disagree with Damon and the idea that believing in superstitions is necessarily a bad thing.

Damon's idea that you can "know" something is absurd. All we really can ever "know" is that we know nothing at all.

The idea of a man flying was a superstition once...and now it's not. Damon's buying into "knowing" that something that is unknown is somehow "wrong" is even more close-minded than the religious beliefs he thinks he is disproving.

The fact is, it's unknown...it can't be wrong any more than it can't be right. His argument against belief in an unknown reveals not any right or wrong but just another belief.

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:29 PM Permalink
Damon

Christians are a notoriously hostile bunch. As well as Jews, Muslims, and Hindus.

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:29 PM Permalink
Damon

All we really can ever "know" is that we know nothing at all.

this statement is false. If one cannot know anything, how can one know that one knows anything? Skepticism is a flawed epistomelogical theory.

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:32 PM Permalink
crabgrass

Well, you're not the only one.

sorry...you said....

But that doesn't make you any less hostile.

"you" is pretty damn specific.

and I don't see Damon advocating threatening you with a lake of fire for all eternity either

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:32 PM Permalink
Damon

Damon's buying into "knowing" that something that is unknown is somehow "wrong" is even more close-minded than the religious beliefs he thinks he is disproving.

All I had said was that I had not yet seen an argument from anyone who believed in theism that was valid and sound.

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:34 PM Permalink
crabgrass

If one cannot know anything, how can one know that one knows anything?

one doesn't know anything. That's what it said. One knows that they know nothing at all. Not that they know something.

That you point out that even this can't be known only proves the point.

Skepticism is a flawed epistomelogical theory.

that's neither here nor there in relation to what I said.

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:34 PM Permalink
crabgrass

All I had said was that I had not yet seen an argument from anyone who believed in theism that was valid and sound.

what part of the word "belief" are you having trouble with?

'cause it ain't gonna work with your logic no matter how hard you push on it.

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:36 PM Permalink
Damon

Skepticism is the theory that no one knows anything, which is certainly what you are proposing here.

One knows that they know nothing at all

if one knows that, then one knows something.

this in direct contradiction to what you are proposing

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:37 PM Permalink
crabgrass

a flawed epistomelogical theory

so, you are determining right or wrong by a theory?

that's a belief, just like the others....like it or not.

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:37 PM Permalink
Damon

when I say belief I mean justified belief, for future references

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:38 PM Permalink
Damon

so, you are determining right or wrong by a theory?

No, not at all. Your line of reasoning is just about verbatim from the standard defintion of skepticism.

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:39 PM Permalink
crabgrass

if one knows that, then one knows something.

no...they don't know something...that's what it says.

they know nothing.

they know they know nothing.

knowing that you know nothing isn't knowing something, it's a state of knowing nothing.

this in direct contradiction to what you are proposing

which only goes to show just how true it really is.

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:39 PM Permalink
Damon

they know they know nothing.

having the knowledge that one knows nothing is in itself knowing something

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:42 PM Permalink
crabgrass

No, not at all.

then why do you keep having to refer to epistomelogical theory>

Your line of reasoning is just about verbatim from the standard defintion of skepticism

No it isn't. I'm not the least skepical in my belief of it.

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:43 PM Permalink
crabgrass

having the knowledge that one knows nothing is in itself knowing something

and that precisely why you know it, because you know you can't know it. Once you can't "know" anything...it confirms that you know that you know nothing.

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:45 PM Permalink
Damon

I'm not using an epistomelogical theory.

You are, the theory being skepticism

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:45 PM Permalink
Damon

but like I said, even the confirmation of knowing that you know nothing, is having knowledge of something.

This is why skepticism is a rebuked thoery among philosophers

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:47 PM Permalink
crabgrass

having the knowledge that one knows nothing is in itself knowing something

did it ever occur to you that the last part of the sentence "All I know is that I know nothing at all" alters the very definition of the first part?

tell me, what does the definition of the first "know" have to become?

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:47 PM Permalink
crabgrass

I'm not using an epistomelogical theory.

then quit using it to "disprove" other people's arguments.

You are, the theory being skepticism

I told you that's not the case at all. I am profoundly secure in what I believe.

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:48 PM Permalink
crabgrass

This is why skepticism is a rebuked thoery among philosophers

I'm not talking about skepticism, as much as you want me to be.

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:49 PM Permalink
Damon

Saying "Äll I know", is in and of itself signaling that one has knowledge, even if it is only thing.

In this case, that one thing is "I know nothing at all"

Well, if you know that, then you know something, and therefore, cannot "know nothing at all"

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:49 PM Permalink
crabgrass

Well, if you know that, then you know something,

no...It goes on to say that I know nothing at all.

and therefore, cannot "know nothing at all"

and therefore cannot know anything...even that I know that I know nothing.

that's why it's a belief.

and that's why your thinking you know instead of mearly believe is to laugh at.

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:52 PM Permalink
Damon

I told you that's not the case at all. I am profoundly secure in what I believe

perhaps you are unfamiliar with I refer to when I say "skepticism"

Skepticism is the epistomelogical theory that no one can truly no anything, or as you are so found of saying,"All I know is that I know nothing at all"

Your version is easily defeated because the very propostion itself is contradictory. If one "knows" that one "cannot know anything at all", then one knows something. And something is more than nothing

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:53 PM Permalink
Damon

if you were to say "I believe that we truly know nothing at all" that would be acceptable

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:54 PM Permalink
crabgrass

know

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:56 PM Permalink
Damon

which was a point I would have gotten to sooner or later.

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:58 PM Permalink
crabgrass

Your version is easily defeated because the very propostion itself is contradictory.

you don't KNOWthat contradictions aren't the truth

You have these limited little rules that allow you to pretend that you think you know something...you don't

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:58 PM Permalink
crabgrass

which was a point I would have gotten to sooner or later.

it's a point you have spent the last several posts trying to disprove.

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 4:58 PM Permalink
crabgrass

where'd Rick go?

I challenge him and it's hostile...I wonder if my challenging the other side is hostile to him as well

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 5:01 PM Permalink
Damon

No, I was spending the last several posts disproving the theory of skepticism.

you don't KNOW that contradictions aren't the truth

your post had N ( I don't know anything) and, through implication ~N.

only one of those can be true, and therefore, there is a contradiction there.

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 5:03 PM Permalink
crabgrass

No, I was spending the last several posts disproving the theory of skepticism.

too bad that wasn't what I was talking about.

only one of those can be true, and therefore, there is a contradiction there.

you believe these rules so much you think they are the truth.

they can both be true just as easily as the rule that says the can't can be false.

You inability to see this is not really any different than Religion saying there is One Way and all the others are false.

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 5:15 PM Permalink
Damon

too bad that wasn't what I was talking about.

but it was, it was the whole premise your argument was based on

you believe these rules so much you think they are the truth.

logic is as constant as mathematics

they can both be true just as easily as the rule that says the can't can be false.

no, if N is true, then its negation (~N) must be false. If you can't accept this, that is fine, but that's what it is.

I'm leaving work now, we can pick up tomorrow if you'd like.

You inability to see this is not really any different than Religion saying there is One Way and all the others are false.

There is right, there is wrong. There is valid, and there is invalid.

Your argument is invalid, and therefore has no logical strength

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 5:19 PM Permalink
crabgrass

you don't even know if there is a difference between belief and knowledge.

I believe in infinity and that says that if you can think it (and even if you can't) it has to be true in the infinite, because the infinite is all places and things. It can't not exist because you can't subtract from the infinite.

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 5:21 PM Permalink
crabgrass

but it was, it was the whole premise your argument was based on

sorry...no it wasn't.

I understand that making it so makes it easier for you to argue it, but that wasn't what I was talking about.

logic is as constant as mathematics

so, you BELIEVEin mathmatics?

they are just another form of Religion....with order as their God.

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 5:23 PM Permalink
Damon

you don't even know if there is a difference between belief and knowledge

there is, and a huge one at that

I believe in infinity and that says that if you can think it (and even if you can't) it has to be true in the infinite, because the infinite is all places and things. It can't not exist because you can't subtract from the infinite.

interesting take.

but if something is true, then one must know it. afterall, if it can occur in the infinite, it has occured, and is therefore knowledge.

See you tomorrow

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 5:24 PM Permalink
crabgrass

there is, and a huge one at that

you don't knowanything

but if something is true, then one must know it. afterall, if it can occur in the infinite, it has occured, and is therefore knowledge.

nope...it's simply a belief...just like everything else.

I already told you that I know that I don't know it.

Fri, 04/30/2004 - 5:26 PM Permalink
Muskwa

Damon, I admire your efforts, but you can't teach logic to the illogical.

Sat, 05/01/2004 - 5:45 AM Permalink
Damon

Apparently so.

nope...it's simply a belief...just like everything else.

No, a belief has the potential to be false. In the infinite, as you propose, everything is encompassed. This is inclusive of anything absolute. If something is absolute in its truth, which is possible in your infinite, it removes all doubt, and is knowledge, not belief.

you don't know anything

and how do you know this?

Sat, 05/01/2004 - 5:53 AM Permalink
Muskwa

I'm waiting for someone to say, "There are no absolutes."

Sat, 05/01/2004 - 6:01 AM Permalink
Damon

In the infinite, as Crabs believes, there must be, or else it's finite

Sat, 05/01/2004 - 6:04 AM Permalink
crabgrass

Damon, I admire your efforts, but you can't teach logic to the illogical.

that's right Damon, you can't teach these Godheads that it isn't logical to believe in a God.

Sat, 05/01/2004 - 6:26 AM Permalink
Damon

Some people wish to remain blissfully ignorant Crabs

Sat, 05/01/2004 - 6:29 AM Permalink
THX 1138



Christians are a notoriously hostile bunch. As well as Jews, Muslims, and Hindus.

People are a notoriously hostile bunch.

Nice that you try to blame it on religion though.

Sat, 05/01/2004 - 6:31 AM Permalink
Damon

True, but I don't act hostile because some thinks their god>my god, or their way of life>my way of life

Sat, 05/01/2004 - 6:33 AM Permalink
THX 1138



True, but I don't act hostile because some thinks their god>my god, or their way of life>my way of life

You're acting pretty hostile if you ask me.

I won't contribute to it.

Later.

Sat, 05/01/2004 - 6:34 AM Permalink
Damon

I'm not acting hostile, I'm presenting a topic for debate.

If the general purpose of religion is to better life on earth, then why is so much violence done in its name?

Sat, 05/01/2004 - 6:36 AM Permalink
crabgrass

You're acting pretty hostile if you ask me.

no he's not.

Sat, 05/01/2004 - 6:44 AM Permalink
Damon

it was a convienent cop-out crabs

Sat, 05/01/2004 - 6:45 AM Permalink
Torpedo-8

At least THX is truthful, unlike you two.

Sat, 05/01/2004 - 6:57 AM Permalink
crabgrass

"Quit talking to me crabgrass" - Torpedo-8

Sat, 05/01/2004 - 6:57 AM Permalink