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
"Is God omnibenevolent?"
The answer, as with most questions, depends on how one defines the terms. If "omnibenevolence" means that God is always and perfectly desiring "the good", then yes, God is omnibenevolent (Mark 10:18; Romans 12:2). If, on the other hand, it means that God is always and only desiring the eternal and ultimate happiness of all humans, then no, God is not omnibenevolent (1 Samuel 15:2-3; Genesis 6:7).
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"How do you know your god is good, and is not actually a satan making us think he is good?"
We know this because the contrary is impossible... We know that God necessarily exists because of the impossibility of the contrary. We also know that God is good and that He cannot deny Himself for the same reason. We know that we ought to behave in a certain way, and we know that we became aware of these oughts as a result of God's personal choice. In other words, He informed us of them.
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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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