Rationalism
Definition
Rationalism describes any philosophy that claims that beliefs and opinions should always be logical, deductive conclusions rather than being based on experience, observations, religious teachings, or divine revelation.
Keywords: Rationalism, Philosophy, Logical, Reasoning, Deductive, Experience, Observations, Religious, Revelation, Contradictory.
Veracity
Rationalistic claims are false .
Proof
All self-refuting or contradictory claims are deductively false.
Premise 1: Only deductive conclusions should be believed.
Premise 2: Premise 1, being the foundation or starting point of the philosophy, is not itself a deductive conclusion.
Conclusion: Therefore, premise 1, also known as "rationalism", should not be believed.
Rationalistic claims, when adhered to, require the rejection of rationalistic claims. To accept them is to reject them, making rationalism inherently contradictory and deductively false.
Gilbert Guttlebocker, Defender of Dragons
Riveting, yet absurd; romantic, yet innocent; Gilbert Guttlebocker, Defender of Dragons is a little Roald Dahl, a little Harry Potter, and a little Chronicles of Narnia, all rolled into one. Timothy McCabe collaborates with the great Benedict Ballyhoot to bring you the novel of the century!
In Printed Form
Along with numerous other authors including Don Landis, Bodie Hodge and Roger Patterson, Timothy McCabe contributes analyses of various world religions and cults in this volume from Master Books.
Other Writings
"If, as you claim, morality is obeying god, how do you know that obeying god is good? Isn't that totally circular?"
If morality is obeying god, then obeying god is morality. If we grant the former, then the latter follows by tautological necessity. Is it circular? Insofar as tautologies are circular, sure. Here is another circular tautology: If 2 + 2 = 4, then 4 = 2 + 2. Totally circular. Malachi 3:18; Romans 4:15, 5:13; 1 John 3:4.
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"Are all presuppositions equally valid? If not, how does one determine which are more valid than others?"
Internal consistency is the most common method I know of for determining the truth value of presuppositions. The test of internal consistency is what presuppositional reasoning is all about. If, for example, a view presupposes "A" and "not-A" at the same time and in the same way, then, in that worldview, reasoning, knowledge, learning, meaning, morality, science, mathematics -- everything -- becomes utterly incoherent.
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"If God is all-powerful and can do anything and everything, can he build a wall high enough so that he could not jump over it?"
No. The God of the Bible is incapable of numerous things. Essentially, all of these things are summed up in 2 Timothy 2:13 which states that God "cannot deny Himself". The God of scripture is a logical God, which is the only reason why the laws of logic, such as the law of non-contradiction, can be trusted to be universal and invariant.
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