{"id":166,"date":"2009-10-05T17:11:39","date_gmt":"2009-10-06T00:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asktheatheist.com\/?p=166"},"modified":"2009-12-06T16:27:12","modified_gmt":"2009-12-06T23:27:12","slug":"logic-and-certainty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asktheatheist.com\/?p=166","title":{"rendered":"Logic and Certainty"},"content":{"rendered":"

Question from Dan,<\/strong> apparently paraphrased from his own blog<\/a> (I added the numbers for easy reference):
\n1. How do you account for the universal, abstract, invariant laws of logic,
\n2. on what basis do you proceed with the assumption that they will not change, and
\n3. how is it possible to know anything for certain according to YOUR worldview?
\n
\nAnswer:<\/strong>
\nBefore I start, atheism is not my worldview. It’s my position on a specific issue, and it has very little to do with how I view anything else.
\n
\n1. I cannot account for the laws of logic, yet, and neither can you. You as a Christian have been supplied with an answer to this tremendous mystery whereas I have not, but you have no substantive evidence to support or verify your answer. Its power to explain anything satisfactorily is therefore extremely limited. If you think you do have evidence, please present it or link to it.
\n
\n2. I proceed with confidence in consistent logic on the basis of experience and precedent. I expect the laws of logic not to change because they have apparently never changed. All my life, and as far back as I’ve delved into history, there isn’t a single confirmed instance when the laws of logic changed. (Contrast that with the Christian idea that God temporarily circumvents these laws to cause miracles.)
\n
\nIf the laws do suddenly change at some point in my lifetime I will be mighty surprised (as will those who think a god is keeping them constant) but I do not expect this to happen and I live as if it won’t. Chances are, I’ll be right.
\n
\n3. Knowing things for certain depends on just how certain you want to be. Since I can’t be absolutely certain this life is not merely a dream, for example, I can’t be any more certain about a single specific aspect of my life as it’s all potentially within that dream.
\n
\nOnce I have enough evidence of something, for example that my fiancee both exists and loves me, I develop a certain confidence that it is true. In the given case I am so confident that I will happily say<\/em> in everyday life that I am certain.
\n
\nSure, there is a possibility that my fiancee is putting on an act, or that she is my schizophrenic delusion, or again that my whole life since meeting her was a dream. I simply think the probability of any of these scenarios is so low that it’s negligible. If I’m wrong and one of them is the case, I will be heartbroken and again very surprised, and that will be that.
\n
\nI do not pursue absolute certainty in anything, because I don’t think it’s attainable. I don’t need it, because in most matters I can attain a level of confidence where I can happily act as if I am certain. Sometimes I’m wrong. It happens.
\n
\n– SmartLX<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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