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
"Why does God allow charlatans to use His name to extract money, sex, attention and even their very lives from devout believers, who truly, honestly believe that they are listening to the word of God?"
There are several assumptions made in this question. The first assumption made, is that God actually does this. I'm not convinced that God does do this, because I'm not convinced that these things happen as described. I haven't seen any evidence for it. Granted, this website does not allow for very lengthy questions that could include evidence, but regardless, my point is that I see absolutely no reason to accept the question as asked.
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"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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"It seems when we examine real objects close enough, they become illusory at the quantum level. Also, the self seems to be an illusion in the strictest sense. Yet it is also real since it exists. What is the difference between reality and illusion?"
Both "reality" and "illusion" are simply words. As words, they carry the definitions that their speakers intend for them to have, and that their listeners read into them. What this means is that "reality" and "illusion" both have multiple meanings, and their definitions in a particular circumstance must be determined by context. For example, I could say that my brother is real, a part of reality. I could say that Tom Sawyer is not real.
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