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Author Topic:   I know God exists & the court of highest appeal is me.
RickJB
Member (Idle past 5017 days)
Posts: 917
From: London, UK
Joined: 04-14-2006


Message 31 of 94 (459132)
03-04-2008 5:08 AM
Reply to: Message 15 by iano
03-03-2008 12:24 PM


Iano writes:
I know there is a pc screen on front of me just as much as I know that God exists and just as much as I know what I thought 5 seconds ago. I don't add "non-conclusively" to pc screens or thoughts. Nor do I to God.
But even if all reality is an illusion the existence of the PC can still be independently verified within the framework of that illusion. If everyone is experiencing the same illusion then that, for all intents an purposes is our default "external reality", since there is nothing else for anyone to work with.
If reality is an illusion then said illusion is our reality!
The problem with your "knowledge" of God is twofold.
i) If reality is an illusion then how can your "knowledge" of God get a "free pass" and attain a higher level of certainty? God may well be just as imaginary as everything else.
ii) How can we verify your "knowledge" of God? Even in an entirely imaginary reality there is no way for two individuals to agree on what constitutes even an imaginary God! Two individuals can agree on the existence of an imaginary PC. The same cannot be said of God.
So we have:
PC: Imaginary/Verifiable.
God: Imaginary/Unverifiable.
Now, if we were to accept that reality is an illusion then we may as well cancel out the first two fields. The just leaves us back where we started:-
PC. Verifiable.
God. Unverifiable.
Even in an imaginary world, you have no empirically verifiable knowledge of God.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 15 by iano, posted 03-03-2008 12:24 PM iano has not replied

  
RickJB
Member (Idle past 5017 days)
Posts: 917
From: London, UK
Joined: 04-14-2006


Message 36 of 94 (459161)
03-04-2008 12:00 PM
Reply to: Message 32 by iano
03-04-2008 10:35 AM


Re: Of Monitors and Gods
Iano writes:
I am still left as the highest court in assuming my perceptions as accurately reflecting reality. What another perceives is not necessarily here or there. I submit that everyone is in the same boat as me regarding whatever it is that forms the totality of their perceptions.
You should look up the work of a certain Irish philosopher called George Berkeley. You may find you have some views in common with him...
George Berkeley
Anyway, I'm sure I asked this before in another thread but never had an answer - if you know God exists in your "reality" does He consequently cease to exist if you cease to think about him?
Edited by RickJB, : No reason given.
Edited by RickJB, : No reason given.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 32 by iano, posted 03-04-2008 10:35 AM iano has not replied

  
RickJB
Member (Idle past 5017 days)
Posts: 917
From: London, UK
Joined: 04-14-2006


Message 71 of 94 (459447)
03-07-2008 2:29 PM
Reply to: Message 70 by iano
03-07-2008 11:05 AM


Re: Methods/Discourses
Iano writes:
If you accept that you cannot establish it being the case that there is an objective reality as described, then it doesn't matter that the possibility is ignored. A possibility that cannot be established is hardly a possibility worth investigating or testing for
But that gets no-one anywhere. As I stated earlier, even if reality is an illusion, that illusion is still our reality! Empirical testing within that reality is an entirely valid means of investigating it.
Edited by RickJB, : No reason given.

This message is a reply to:
 Message 70 by iano, posted 03-07-2008 11:05 AM iano has not replied

  
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