Tag: presuppositionalism
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Knapp’s “Induction and the Unbeliever”
Recently the “Bahnsen Burner” Dawson Bethrick took a swing at Choosing Hats founder and administrator Brian Knapp’s contribution to The Portable Presuppositionalist as a part of his ongoing attempt to provide an answer to the Problem of Induction from within the confines of the Objectivist worldview. Mr. Bethrick quotes from page 124 of Knapp’s “Induction and the Unbeliever” in The Portable Presuppostionalist where Knapp asks, “Why do you believe nature is uniform, and how is that belief rationally justified?” Bethrick begins to provide an answer early in his post as follows:
…[N]ature is uniform on its own, independent of
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David Hume Is Rolling In His Grave
The “Bahnsen Burner” Dawson Bethrick is busy writing a number of posts concerning the Problem of Induction that I discussed with him some time ago. In his most recent post Mr. Bethrick repeats where he thinks David Hume went wrong on induction thus allegedly setting himself up for a future post on how Objectivism rids itself of the so-called “problem” of induction. Setting aside a number of mistakes in his exegesis of Hume Mr. Bethrick shows that his last thread of hope in the area of induction will not hold the weight he wants to place on it.
Objectivists constantly …
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Nature Grace Dualism
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”
Genesis 1:26 (ESV)
Even this portion of a verse of Scripture has serious ramifications for apologetic methodology.
When “image” and “likeness” are taken not to be synonymous but rather to refer to two different concepts a false anthropological dichotomization is created which either extends to or finds inductive support from other doctrines similarly understood. Thus the ‘image’ of God might incorrectly be thought of as being natural to humans while the ‘likeness’ of God is thought of as supernatural so that an instance of a fabricated distinction …
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My Debate Opponent Converted To Theism!
Please note that this post is not a part of my current debate with Nocterro.
Excited? I am not.
The title of Nocterro’s most recent post at Urban Philosophy is A Conversion. The title is puzzling. In what way has Nocterro experienced a “conversion”? One thing is for certain; he is no Christian. Nocterro has merely changed his position on the matter of the existence of “God”. He now professes to be a theist.
Not only is “conversion” not being used in a Christian sense here but neither is “God”. One learns quickly that what Nocterro has in view …
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Check out this offer on “Speaking the Truth in Love: The Theology of John M. Frame”!
Thanks to Zao Thanatoo for contacting me about a 50% discount on John Frame’s festschrift Speaking the Truth in Love: The Theology of John M. Frame edited by John J. Hughes (P&R, 2009) through Dr. James N. Anderson’s blog. Click here to find out how to take advantage of this generous offer!
You may also read Dr. Anderson’s contribution to the book here. Many thanks to Dr. Anderson for the work he has done through the years developing his ‘attenuated’ Van Tilianism. I look forward to more of his work in the future.…
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A Fristian Strikes Out Revisited: Response to “Theo Beza”
Not too long ago I posted regarding a Fristianity Style Counter (FSC) to TAG from “John Calvin”. You may find the post here (https://choosinghats.org/?p=876) but it is reposted below.
In that post the particular FSC that John Calvin had offered was in my view successfully refuted by appealing to an analogous argument offered by Paul Manata. An individual commenting on the post using the name “Theo Beza” offered a series of irrelevant and hence unsuccessful objections to my critique of the FSC. Here I will repost A Fristian Strikes Out in order to provide the context needed to …
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Discussion With Nocterro Concerning Three Topics: Rebuttal By C.L. Bolt
Discussion With Nocterro Concerning Three Topics: Opening Statement By C.L. Bolt
A Response to Bolt on Three Topics (Nocterro, Offsite at Urban Philosophy)
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“[A]ny concept is identical with any other…which implies that perfect understanding is subjective and inexpressible.”
– 倪德卫
Nocterro requested that we discuss the three topics of the reliability of Scripture, the self-deception of atheists, and the presupposition of God in Nocterro’s reasoning. My opening statement is summarized in three statements which are reproduced individually below and discussed in accordance with Nocterro’s responses to them.
Reliability of Scripture
God has providentially controlled the …
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Science Is Not That Simple (Part 3)
Chalmers also challenges the idea that facts provide a firm and reliable foundation for scientific knowledge. This argument falls in line with the other arguments.
Further difficulties concerning the reliability of the observational basis of science arise from some of the ways in which judgments about the adequacy of observation statements draw on presupposed knowledge in a way that renders those judgments fallible.1
Chalmers uses the example of Aristotle’s idea that fire is a substance. Fire was observed, and it could be seen rising into the air so that it seemed accurate to say that fire …
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Science Is Not That Simple (Part 2)
(For the first part of Science Is Not That Simple click here.)
Chalmers argues against the common idea that facts precede and are separate from theory. Chalmers starts his argument out against this common idea by explaining the ambiguity of the term “fact”.
…It can refer to a statement that expresses the fact and it can also refer to the state of affairs referred to by such a statement. For example, it is a fact that there are mountains and craters on the moon. Here the fact can be taken as referring to the mountains or craters themselves. Alternatively,
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Discussion With Nocterro Concerning Three Topics: Opening Statement By C.L. Bolt
Introduction
Internet user Nocterro has requested that we discuss the three topics of the reliability of Scripture, the self-deception of atheists, and the presupposition of God in Nocterro’s reasoning. Scripture is reliable and is the source of my claim that Nocterro believes both ‘God exists’ and ‘Nocterro does not believe that God exists’. Scripture is also the source of my claim that Nocterro presupposes God in order to reason at all. Here I will offer a brief defense of each of these three claims with the recognition that each subject is massive enough to deserve much more detailed discussion than …