Quote:
Originally Posted by Wolf_Rider
Fact... check the depth of the ocean for fish, which live there under great pressure, for one, and life which exists under the Antarctic ice shelves in extremely cold conditions, for two. Creatures which exist under the sands of the hotest deserts, three, and geothermic ocean vent critters, four.
rather extreme conditions, yet life exists.
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All located on the planet Earth, which in a debate as to the likelihood of extra terrestrial life reduces your number of locations to one.
Quote:
Originally Posted by unreasonable
These are odd statements, especially coming from someone who calls himself Mr Logic.
"all belief systems rely on the absence of incontestable proof" - what about the "belief systems" of mathematics and propositional logic? These have incontestable proofs, since they have axioms.
Inside these systems truths can indeed be ascertained, since the steps by which the axioms can be used to prove other propositions are clear.
Furthermore, your statements are self defeating. If indeed the proposition "truth cannot be ascertained within belief systems" is true, then it cannot be ascertained within the belief system that contains this proposition.
So does this make your expression of the proposition an exercise in "rhetoric", or does it simply mean that your understanding of logic is a lot less impressive that you appear to believe? Or perhaps a more charitable explanation is that you have been unable to communicate clearly?
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I am evidently attempting to communicate on a level of philosophical thought outside of your experiences to date.
The quest for the establishment of the nature of absolute truth has been the topic of fierce philosophical debate throughout documented history. Indeed the only logical conclusion which can be reached by sound critical reasoning is that; Since all information is transferred to our consciences via nerve impulses to the brain via sensory organs and neural networks, therefore existing solely in our individual conciousness and being entirely subjective, our perception of truth is in itself illusory.
'Reality' itself is therefore an illusion, rendering all we perceive in itself a belief system, open to the same passionate argumentation as the initial topic tabled for discussion.