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
"Can you know anything independently of what god has revealed to you?"
The short answer is no. But depending on exactly how the words in the question are defined, that could make a difference in how the question is answered. KNOWLEDGE Knowledge is generally understood to at least require justified, true belief. It may entail more than that, but it at least requires those elements. What this means is that if someone is justified in believing something, but that something is false, then it cannot correctly be said that they "know" it.
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"Has God always existed and always will? If so, how did God design the universe if nothing existed to guide him and nothing existed for him to think about."
I don't think I completely understand your question. The question itself seems to presuppose some things that are not accurate, and so I'm not really sure how to answer it. If your basic question is "how did God design the universe?" then I can honestly tell you that I have no idea -- God didn't specifically tell us how He did it and I have never designed a universe myself, so I wouldn't know the first thing about it.
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"What's an easy way to demonstrate that Atheism is false?"
If Atheism is true, then Everything is ultimately the direct result of purely random, uncoordinated and undependable accidents. Note that "Everything" includes Our Conclusions. If Our Conclusions are ultimately the direct result of purely random, uncoordinated and undependable accidents, then Our Conclusions are entirely random and undependable. No Atheist believes that his own conclusions are random and undependable, so no Atheist really believes in Atheism.
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