Insanity personified Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 Recently, i've been going back and forth via email with a so called "christian intellectual". He's a philosophy major at a local college, and given that I want to pursue a philosophy degree in the future, I thought i'd talk to him just to get an idea of what a philosophy student DOES exactly. I didn't know that he was a fundy.....oh dear in any case, Is it just me or do christians not understand how to properly identify logical fallacies? Even the seemingly intelligent christians i've met seem either completely clueless on the subject, or they memorize two or three common fallacies, and bleat like cacophonic goats whenever they think you've used them (even if you haven't). This is particularly irritating when one is trying to read christian rebuttals to atheistic literature or philosophy, because it takes time and energy to go back and point out every error the christian makes, and they end up thinking they've won when in fact they've just overwhelmed you via argument from verbosity (which is also somewhat of a logical fallacy) does anyone know whatt i'm talking about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulQ Posted December 30, 2008 Share Posted December 30, 2008 It's a strategy known as (in layman's terms), "If you can't dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit." They just keep on dishing it out in enormous amounts, hoping you'll choke on it and go away. They aren't interested in the truth or in being right, they just want to feel like they somehow won. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thurisaz Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 :whs: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwc Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 "christian intellectual". He's a philosophy major Two of the most insufferable types to ever try to converse with rolled into one. Have fun. Is he a narcissist too? Wait. Don't answer that. mwc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbobrob Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 As a comic (which one I forget) once said, "you don't go to the hospital to see well people, why do you expect to see smart people at a university." sounds like old laywer tricks...."Oh you want THAT file....OK, but I will bury it in these 100 boxes of useless files. Happy hunting." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted December 31, 2008 Share Posted December 31, 2008 does anyone know whatt i'm talking about? One word: YES. That's the reason why I feel less and less inclined to argue with Christians. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Insanity personified Posted January 1, 2009 Author Share Posted January 1, 2009 "christian intellectual". He's a philosophy major Two of the most insufferable types to ever try to converse with rolled into one. Have fun. Is he a narcissist too? Wait. Don't answer that. mwc heyyyy, I'm a future philosophy major well since i'm going to double major, only half of my focus will be philosophy =P but yes. This guy thinks he's the next Alvin Plantinga...it's really quite irritating, especially since all he does is look at philosophy from an apologetics perspective... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
par4dcourse Posted January 1, 2009 Share Posted January 1, 2009 One of my first few posts here was about how stupid xians are and deadly repetitive. I was much more vulgar and likely made much less sense, but yes, I think most people who have been able to break away from the xian dogma wonder how they fail to call bs on themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amethyst Posted January 1, 2009 Share Posted January 1, 2009 I think it's just human nature -- few people want to admit they're being stupid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
godlessgrrl Posted January 1, 2009 Share Posted January 1, 2009 in any case, Is it just me or do christians not understand how to properly identify logical fallacies? It's not just you. It's not just Christians either, though. People just aren't educated to understand and recognize logical fallacies in the first place, unless they make it into a college-level philosophy or logic class, or somehow find themselves in a situation where understanding is needed (like in a debate forum). I didn't learn about them until I was over 30, and I can't say I had a crappy education - it was good, but left a lot of stuff out. So I suspect most people just don't even know what logical fallacies are. But then there are certainly folks who know what they are, and willfully abuse them, or ignore them, or selectively apply them, or whatnot. Or my personal favorite: the apologeticist who pulls the "faith trumps logic" card and insists that logic simply doesn't apply to religious matters at all. It's a nice, sneaky little special pleading that gets them out of having to argue anything intelligently, leaving little option but appeals to emotion or feel-good anecdotes or threats of hellfire. Anyway. No, it's not just you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ogilvy Posted January 2, 2009 Share Posted January 2, 2009 I'm only just now starting to give up trying to get them to admit they are being illogical! For the last year I've been fretting over why they won't give a straight answer to a simple question. As someone said, 'you ask them the time, and they try to explain how to make a watch'. They try to answer a question you haven't asked. I guess they don't want to see it. Maybe they can't help it. I will try to leave them alone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jedah Posted January 3, 2009 Share Posted January 3, 2009 philosophy from an apologetics perspective... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Insanity personified Posted January 3, 2009 Author Share Posted January 3, 2009 philosophy from an apologetics perspective... my sentiments exactly XD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKR Posted January 4, 2009 Share Posted January 4, 2009 I think some of them know exactly what they're doing and they just ignore the fact that their arguments have been crushed. I debate in a certain forum quite a bit and I'll see the same people pulling out the same old destroyed arguments over and over again. It's one thing to be stupid, but quite another to play stupid in order to cling on to your religion or pretend you're winning the debate. I also can't stand it that 95% of the population doesn't understand analogies, including Atheists. Person A: "I think it's ok if we dominate the earth and disrespect animals for our advancement. Survival of the fittest." Me : "Oh, so I guess it's ok if you go out and rape a bunch of women in order to spread your genes for the sake of your advancement in the species." Person A: "Are you calling me a rapist, you son of a bitch!?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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