I produce a sketch of my own presuppositionalism I have been developing. It goes like this.
My claim: Sye's mind is addled and his thinking unreliable because he was hit on the head by a rock.
Prove this is false Sye.
Try to, and I will say - "But your "proof" presupposes your mind is not addled and you can recognise a proof when you see it." So it fails.
Ask me to prove my claim and I will say: "But prove to me your mind is not addled, then, Sye". Which you won't be able to, for the above reason. I might then add, with a flourish - "So you see, it's proved by the impossibility of the contrary".
And of course I have a good explanation for why your brain is addled - you were hit by a rock.
Is my claim reasonable, then? Of course not. It's bullshit. I really can't see how your position is any less of a bullshit position. Can you?
Sunday, August 10, 2008
One Last One From Stephen Law
Stephen posted yesterday as the most recent entry on Sye:
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the wonders of presuppositionalism.
ReplyDeleteStephen Law is a trooper, hands down. He's been going on with Sye for over two weeks now, throwing everything (and more) that he can at him. It's amazing to read because Sye has built his little fortress of "I'm not going to let him get anything BWAH HAH HAH."
ReplyDeleteStephen, however, keeps it fresh, which is awesome.
Prof. Law may be keeping it fresh but he also sounds like a man running out of patience. Good on him. There are some things nobody should put up with and Sye is one of them.
ReplyDeleteYou know, Sye's belief in God is just so entrenched. His argument, "the Transcendental Argument", is, as we all know, presuppositional.
ReplyDeletePersonally I'm really curious what goes on in Sye's head. He's a guy who's always believed in God, he's always been a Chrisian so in this way he's always been a presuppositionalist. In other words no matter what argument for God he ever used he's always presupposed God, his thinking can't go any other way.
The fact (for example) that his argument is circular (which he admits is necessary) and that it begs the question doesn't bother him at all; even though he accuses everyone else of the same.
Sye reminds me of the kid who comes to a park with a soccer ball and says lets play. Then when he starts loosing he takes the ball and says, “ this is my ball, you guys can’t play with it anymore”, and before he leaves the field he kicks a couple goals with everyone standing dumb founded and proclaims he’s the winner. Of course everyone knows he lost, but in his mind he’s the victor.
So victory on the part of everyone else is hollow. Of course a big part of winning at anything is acknowledgement by the other player that he lost, is you don’t have this, you have nothing. Now of course I’m not trying to suggest that “winning” is what it’s all about per se, I’m simply throwing out the analogy.
In another way Sye reminds me of this:
We all know that the tough guy in the bar, the little 5’ 8” guy with an attitude, is really just a big pussy; but we all let him bark anyway. We know that the aging bald guy in the new corvette is insecure in his old age and is now trying to represent something other then youth. We also know that guy who walks around touting his immense penis is really just packin’ a tinny noodle. Likewise the guy who claims to have all the answers generally is the one who doesn’t know shit.
I think for this reason, Sye, along with Ray, are insecure Christians. You’ll never win with them, they are the toughest, they have the most money, and they’re penises are bigger then ours. Of course they’ll never prove this, but just you trust they’re word.
I thought Sye had stopped replying to Stephen at this point?
ReplyDeleteI saw him do his wimpy, 'well I'm happy to leave it here, then,' move a few days ago.
Meagan,
ReplyDeleteI don't know if you caught it, but Sye actually said that he wasn't going to be able to post as much as he was writing a book on the topic....
It was at that point that I crapped my pants, then just sort of stewed in it for about a half hour or so till it dried and my ass cheeks were stuck together.
"I don't know if you caught it, but Sye actually said that he wasn't going to be able to post as much as he was writing a book on the topic...."
ReplyDeleteOh yeah, I caught it. I, like many of the other posters marveled at the fact that a man who has no formal education in philosophy and whom cannot defend his ideas from any scrutiny deems himself capable of writing a book on the subject.
I don't know whether to laugh or cry at the idea.