Search results

Epistemology: Part 3 To be clear, the possibility of “supernatural” intervention is not being arbitrarily dismissed here, but supernatural claims must survive tests designed to falsify them before they can serve as explanations. Unfortunately, every attempt to test a supernatural claim thus far...

Epistemology: Part 2 The imaginary apple from the example illustrates “Conceptual” truth. While the imaginary apple does not empirically exist in the same way as an observable apple does at the grocery store, you can at least know the imaginary apple exists as a true concept. This is because...

Epistemology: Part 1 Epistemology describes the process or method people use to distinguish knowledge from belief and true claims from false claims. The language used to describe an epistemology must be unambiguous because it is the tool we use to communicate a coherent train of thought. As...

An ad hominem attack (i.e. accusing me of being closed-minded) is logically fallacious and an intellectually inferior form of argumentation. Incidentally, it is far more open-minded of someone to remain skeptical of unfalsifiable claims than to assume a doxastically closed position. I...

It appears I will have to explain my epistemology. However, describing how an epistemology functions to produce a reliable knowledge base will take some time. I'm not sure if there is a word limit to these posts. If there is not enough room to post my explanation, I'll have to break it up...

Have you ever studied epistemology? It is intellectually dishonest to claim knowledge of something that is philosophically unknowable. At best, you can only have a strong belief that an unfalsifiable claim is true.

Thanks for sharing your articulate yet nonetheless anecdotal testimony. It is obvious you have very passionate feelings about this issue and have a strong emotional attachment to your belief. However, in case you're not already aware, an argument that attempts to be convincing by appealing to...

Was your post intended for someone else? Your question doesn't seem at all relevant to anything I've posted.

A detailed refutation of NDE research (including the red running shoe example) is available for your review at the following link: Hallucinatory Near-Death Experiences

I did not deliberately ignore the two video links from your post, but I don't recall noticing them the first time I read it. Did you subsequently edit your post to add those links after I had already read it the first time?

I'm not sure if you are aware of this, but there have been experiments conducted to test some NDE claims. Many NDE claims commonly describe a sensation of being able to observe your own body, other people, and objects in the hospital operating room as if you are hovering above everything. So...

Several New Testament books were excluded from this analysis because they were not relevant to the topic, their authenticity has been contested by a consensus of Biblical scholars, or have been demonstrated to be duplicative in that they are later versions of the same content borrowed directly...

This thread neither promotes nor rejects atheism. What made you ask?

The word “faith” generates a disproportionate amount of confusion in conversations about epistemology. Colloquially, the word “faith” is interchangeable with the word “trust.” The accusation that we all exhibit faith in our sources of knowledge is grounded on an equivocation with the concept of...

Many Christians have explained to me that it is their duty to undertake the so-called "great commission" where they are compelled to spread the gospel message of salvation. They claim the Bible teaches that people are saved by faith in Jesus and not by doing good works. The implication being...

I will consider and not reject any evidence that demonstrates the claim can survive every test designed to falsify it. However, I am unable to think of way to test if this claim is false. Do you know of a way this claim could be tested to determine if it is false?

(a) What information or evidence would falsify the resurrection claim? How do you propose to test this claim? (b) What information or evidence would falsify the faith healing claim? How do you propose to test this claim? (c) What information or evidence would falsify the NDE claim? How do you...

A claim can be either falsifiable or unfalsifiable. Falsifiable claims that have an implicit empirical basis and survive every test designed to disprove them are provisionally accepted as the most reasonable explanations for observed phenomena. Unfalsifiable claims cannot be tested because the...

According to the Bible, only those people who repent from sin and ask God for forgiveness will receive eternal life through the sacrifice of Jesus. In obedience to this standard Christian obligation, the church hierarchy routinely encourages its congregation to seek divine forgiveness for their...

I apologize in advance if someone has already posted something similar to what I'm about to articulate, but I don't have a lot of time to read through every response in this thread: I don't profess to speak for everyone who identifies as an atheist, but it would be inaccurate to describe me as...